Speech by Marthinus Van Schalkwyk Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism during the opening of the Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) Tour Operator Programme launch and workshop

2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa, over 6 000 non-hotel rooms have been contracted to date:

It is an honour to address you at the opening of the Fifa Tour Operator Programme lunch and workshop. The very mention of the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa evokes excitement and expectation amongst all South Africans. Such excitement is abundantly evident within our tourism industry, which is actively preparing itself to ensure maximum benefit from this mega-event.

This workshop is a further step towards ensuring that the benefits of the World Cup are felt by all sectors of the business community from multinational companies to family businesses. It is an excellent example of government working hand in hand with the tourism industry and broader stakeholders to make sure that our planning is aligned and targeted towards a common goal, an African World Cup that we can all be proud of.

I share in the 2010 excitement, for I too firmly believe that the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa provides a unique opportunity for South Africa's tourism industry, which is currently ranked as one of the most important economic drivers in the country. Since 1994, South Africa has achieved consistent tourism growth, with an unprecedented 8,4 million people visiting our shores in 2006. Tourism is however a highly competitive industry, and for us to maintain and indeed exceed our tourist arrivals growth rate, it is vital that we continue to enhance international awareness of South Africa as a world-class tourist destination.

Given the global reach and enormous viewer ship of a Fifa World Cup, the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa provides us with a wonderful opportunity to grow global awareness of South Africa's tourism attractions and products. To this end, we have commenced with a number of initiatives, one of the most important of which is the partnership that has been established between our department and Match.

This partnership includes a vital focus on the contracting of graded national park and tourism small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) accommodation by Match. This SMME accommodation contracting initiative is being driven by our department, together with Match, the Tourism Enterprise Programme and the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa. This initiative provides tremendous global marketing opportunities for contracted SMMEs.

I am pleased to announce that through this partnership effort, approximately 22 000 hotel rooms have been contracted to date. These include 157 rooms in Botswana and 329 rooms in Swaziland. In addition and crucially, 6 000 non-hotel rooms have been contracted to date. This includes over 1 000 rooms that have been contracted with SANParks.

We set ourselves a minimum target of 10 000 non-hotel rooms to be sign-up by May 2008. I am certain that we will exceed the 10 000 mark long before May next year. I believe that a further 6 000 rooms are in the process of being contracted. These numbers continue to grow daily. These contracted rooms are located across the country, with the largest concentration being in KwaZulu-Natal currently. I can also announce that the Hibiscus Coast in KwaZulu-Natal is the first area to obtain Match satellite accommodation status with over 500 non-hotel rooms having been contracted in this area alone. The contracts for a further 3,600 rooms in KwaZulu-Natal are currently being finalised.

This is an excellent example of how business and government have come together to benefit more SMME's, bringing the benefits of 2010 to more businesses in more areas of the country. 2010 accommodation sign-up representatives will be travelling around the country between November 2007 and March 2008 to sign up further Match contracts for the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa.

I am also particularly excited about the tourism marketing opportunities that Fifa's Tour Operator Programme provides. Even though this programme is largely focused on the allocation of tickets globally, the very fact that it will incorporate approximately 160 tour operators globally provides South Africa with a truly amasing tourism marketing opportunity.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Jaime Byrom for his initiatives to ensure that the Tour Operator Programme does indeed provide such tourism marketing opportunities. South African Tourism is represented at this launch by its CEO, Mr Moeketsi Mosola and a substantial slot has been allocated to SA Tourism during the Tour Operator Workshop which will commence immediately after this launch. South African Tourism will make full use of this slot to provide valuable information to workshop participants on the range of exciting tourist attractions and products that are available in South Africa. Tomorrow, SANParks will also present their unique accommodation and tourism offerings to workshop participants.

Please be assured that we will make full use of the Tour Operator Programme in our tourism marketing efforts. I thank you for this opportunity and wish you every success in implementing the Fifa Tour Operator Programme.

Enquiries:
Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs
26 November 2007