Date: 23/07/2007
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs
Title: SA: van Schalkwyk: Southern African Association for Conference Industry

Speech by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, at the national conference of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), Cape Town

23 July 2007

"Challenges in the Tourism Industry"

Introduction

It is a great honour to open this national conference of the SAACI. To some, it may seem a contradiction in terms. Is it really possible to engage in serious business when you're out of your usual workday environment, surrounded by scenic beauty and a host of compelling sights and attractions? At the same time, is it really possible to enjoy a fleeting getaway in an exotic location, when getting down to business is uppermost on the agenda? Answer, in South Africa it's possible. No other business destination in the world offers such a tantalising combination of practical and philosophical insight, in a setting of such natural grandeur and diversity, in a land of such warm and welcoming people.

Business tourism

The tourism industry, given pride of place amongst the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa's (AsgiSA's) priority sectors, has outdone itself yet again. Arrival statistics for 2006 show that South Africa received almost 8,4 million international arrivals, an increase of more than one million visitors compared to the previous year and resounding evidence that the focused marketing efforts of South African Tourism (SAT) are paying off in every sense.

We know that business tourism can contribute positively to the volume of foreign arrivals to South Africa. It can also play an important role in reducing seasonality and drive transformation of the economy. We have therefore put in a lot of work in developing our Business Tourism Growth Strategy, which is the outcome of research undertaken in 2006/07. The strategy sets out to understand the market and identify where South African tourism should focus its marketing efforts and resources.

With more than 1 700 conference venues around the country, South Africa hosts more than 860 major conferences every year. Our key target markets for attracting international meetings are the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) followed by Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The world market for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, the core drivers of business tourism is expected to make up 10% of the estimated US$672 billion generated by the travel and tourism industry with the figure doubling by 2013. Competition in this market, naturally, is tough. Globally, South Africa is currently ranked 23rd by the Union of International Associations (UIA) as a top meetings destination and 31st by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). But business tourism is very serious business and we have set ourselves an ambitious goal to tie in with the FIFA World Cup in 2010. By the time that momentous event kicks off in South Africa, it is our vision to progress our destination ranking substantially to get into the top 10 of preferred global meetings destinations. This is an ambitious goal and requires a concerted and collaborative partnership with industry. Getting to that position will take an unusual amount of work, an unusual amount of confidence and an unusual amount of selling our proposition to meetings and incentive planners around the globe.

Thanks to continued investment in infrastructure, greater professionalism within our industry, our value for money tourism offerings and the sheer uniqueness of our destination, we believe we are well positioned to turn this goal into a reality. There are however some challenges we have to deal with in reaching these goals.

Tourism transport and airlift

One of the functional transport areas inhibiting tourism growth is airlift and the creation of an efficient tourist public transport system. The core of any strategy to yield growth from tourism is the ability to maximise opportunities for spending by visitors. The development of new and more diverse product offerings, in pursuit of this goal, has to be supported by a system that can connect visitors to products and attractions efficiently and effectively.

Regarding airlift, we have decided that the main theme of our annual National Tourism Conference to be held at the end of October this year will be "Tourism and Aviation." I am furthermore pleased to announce that thus far, the implementation of the airlift strategy, the result of a strong partnership between Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), South African Tourism (SAT), the Department of Transport and the private sector has shown impressive increases in capacity to bring tourists to South Africa. Between September 2006 and January this year, rights for almost 1,4 million additional seats per year were secured.

The obvious reality with regards to tourism is that the current public transport system is not geared to serving the needs of accommodation establishments and attractions. In this regard we welcome the many initiatives in upgrading the public transport system in the run-up to 2010.

Tourism safety and security

When tourists in the global markets make decisions about where to travel, they weigh up a number of criteria. Safety and security in a destination is the second most important purchase criterion after value for money for South Africa's target consumers across all our 10 priority markets. Research conducted by South African Tourism, has indicated that while South Africa is in many respects an attractive tourist destination, fear of crime could be a possible deterrent to potential visitors.

The 2005 South African Tourism brand tracking survey revealed that, of all target consumers in the eight core markets represented, about 22,25 million (33,8% of the total market of 65,8 million) mentioned fears about safety as one reason for not visiting South Africa in the last five years. Crime is therefore an issue we as industry have to deal with if we want to reach our target of 10 million arrivals by 2010.

We as government are working tirelessly in addressing and intensifying our war against crime. Just to highlight a couple of initiatives. There has been a significant increase in resources going to the fight against crime. Since 2003/04, allocations to the Ministry of Safety and Security have increased by 43 percent. Over the next three years, resources going to the police will rise by a further 34 percent from R33 billion in 2006/07 to R44 billion in 2009/10. In this year's budget, government is allocating an extra R2,4 billion to the police to further expand police numbers and invest in technology and forensic equipment. By 2010, we will have close to 190 000 police officers on our streets.

I am pleased to report that DEAT, together with provinces and the South African Police Service (SAPS) established a national task team to oversee the development of a National Tourism Safety and Awareness Strategy. After a series of consultation meetings, a draft National Tourism Safety and Awareness Strategy has been developed. Further consultation with other critical stakeholders, particularly members of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) which represents the tourism industry, was undertaken through workshops.

The strategy amongst others, calls for an integrated approach in addressing tourism safety and awareness and recognizes the SAPS as a critical role player, with a direct mandate regarding safety and security matters. Hence, its participation and input throughout the process was prioritised.

In the implementation of the strategy, DEAT will collaborate particularly with the Department of Safety and Security around the following:

* the possibility of having a designated officer in every police station
* dealing with tourism crime related issues
* the long term aim is to establish tourism ambassador units in police stations, with specialised training.

Some provinces have established Provincial and Local Safety and Security Forums and the formal participation of SAPS is of significant importance and others are in the process of putting such structures in place.

The SAPS have established planning forums which are referred to as national and provincial joint meetings, where operations for events are planned. The tourism sector will ensure participation in these meetings to provide information on activities, routes and events taking place around the country.

There is also a need for adding a tourism variable in the existing crime database making available tourism crime incidents and progress on investigations. This can assist in dealing with perceptions that the country may not be safe for tourists.

Our Department has also produced a 'Tourism Safety Tips' booklet and we are in the process of producing a 'Handbook for Tourism Practitioners.'

The role that industry and society has to play in the implementation of the strategy cannot be overemphasised. Law enforcement agencies alone cannot win the war against crime as some of these crimes are committed within industry by employees and owners of establishments. These include making information on tourists available to crime syndicates, theft of tourist's property in some establishments, illegal use of tourist credit cards, unlawful levy collections, illegal tour guiding and unlicensed tour operators. These crime categories were discussed and acknowledged by industry players in a workshop convened by TBCSA and DEAT, where certain resolutions were taken to address them.

I want to thank the industry for the positive role they are playing in jointly addressing this issue.

Conclusion

South Africa is renowned for breaking new ground, for succeeding against all odds. I have no doubt whatsoever that the goals we have set ourselves in the tourism industry will be realised within record time. I congratulate SAACI in its pursuit of excellence and wish the conference the very best in your deliberations.

By working together, South Africa cannot fail to become one of the world's favourite destinations.

Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
23 July 2007