Issued by: Government Communication and Information System
18 March 1999
Address by Minister Z. Pallo Jordan to the Tourism Business Council of South Africa's Annual General Meeting. Midrand Protea Hotel, 18 March 1999
Colleagues and friends, it is great to be with you - the drivers of tourism - at your AGM.
Before I launch into the meat of my address, I would like to thank you all for the magnanimity you have shown in shifting your AGM from your originally scheduled date of yesterday to today in order to allow me to be with you. I am aware that these dates are set well in advance and a special word of thanks to the staff at the TBCSA who had to organise the re-scheduling. I was not able to be with you last year and was desperately keen not to miss this auspicious event this year.
Let me begin by briefly re-kindling what we have achieved in the last year and where we find ourselves now.
Much of the former part of 1998 was spent exploring various mechanisms to fund tourism marketing. The proposal that enjoyed overwhelming support from all quarters of the tourism sector including my department and the provinces, was the Tourism Growth Fund, to be funded by a departure tax on international air tickets. We were unable to win support for this proposal, notwithstanding repeated and often impassioned efforts.
We, the TBCSA and the department, then embarked on a journey that ended up in the form of partnership. All international marketing decisions are now the preserve of the SATOUR Marketing Partnership Committee on which the TBCSA has a 50% representation. Furthermore, the TBCSA has been requested to assist in finding a suitable candidate for the position of Marketing Director at SATOUR and to supplement the salary package if necessary.
Whilst we were putting the partnership structure together in terms of SATOUR, as the marketing agency for South Africa, there were concomitant developments taking place around funding. The advent of the Business Trust and their pledge of R50 million per annum for 3 years to international marketing, greatly assisted the process of securing funding from both the department (via a grant from the central fiscus of R50 million) as well as a voluntary levy contribution from the TBCSA members.
It was extremely disappointing to hear that we will need to convince the international airlines, with the expectation of Virgin and SAA, who operate into and out of our country to join the TBCSA voluntary levy process. Their absence could result in only an envisaged R30 million contribution from the TBCSA instead of an initially projected R50 million. However, we now have a pool of at least R130 million that will enable us to begin the long overdue job of laying a generic image of our country in international markets.
In addition to the partnership in marketing, we have invited the TBCSA, as the (to use the Antipodean parlance) "peak" private sector tourism body, to join senior government, labour and community representatives in the Tourism Forum. This body is tasked with providing strategic guidance and direction to the various bodies and agencies that operate in the fields of marketing, training & skills development, enterprise support and data & information systems.
SATOUR, which for many years was a dirty word among private sector tourism players, has now been transformed and restructured. We are appreciative of the support and confidence shown by the TBCSA in joining us inn a marketing partnership in SATOUR.
These are not insignificant achievements. I would like to congratulate and thank the various champions and visionaries in the TBCSA who have not only dedicated valuable time and energy in putting all this together but who continue to play critical roles in the process. This has been a collective effort and it would, I suppose, be slightly infradig to mention names, but there are a couple of people I would like to thank, for without them we would certainly not be where we are today. The first is Michael Farr. Not only has he driven and guided the TBCSA in the partnership, he also gave SATOUR a firm hand on the tiller through what can only be described as stormy seas. Liz Westby-Nunn is another stalwart who has generously given time and energy to chair SATOUR over the past two years. In addition to those chief executives who have liberated resources from your companies to make this a success, I thank you.
The question we all face is where and how do we take the partnership process from here? Let me at the outset say that I have no intrinsic wisdom or solutions in this area. I do, however, have some suggestions and thoughts that I would like to share with you.
There have been critical comments from some quarters who appear affronted that the private sector is being asked to play a role. What they ask, is government doing? The answer to this lies in an acknowledgement - an acknowledgement that we as government and SATOUR do not necessarily possess the residual expertise when it comes to developing and executing a generic international marketing strategy. or for that matter when it comes to all aspects of policy development and strategy to do with tourism. Hence the invitation to TBCSA to play a meaningful role as a partner in the Tourism Forum as well as the SATOUR Marketing partnership Committee. In short, you are being invited to play an active role, in saying this we as government are in n o way abrogating our responsibilities we are, prepared to walk with you down this path and remove identified obstacles where we have the ability and authority to do so.
What then are we asking of you - the tourism private sector and the TBCSA as your peak body? We asking for vision. It is not about expending energy and time and securing immediate returns. On the other hand it is not about altruism either. If, though our collective efforts, we are able to raise South Africa as the preferred international tourist destination, you will all benefit directly.
It is about co-operation and competition - co-optition is I understand the hip phrase of the moment. But let me spend some time unpacking this concept and what is means for individual players.
The suggestion is that although many of you compete directly with each other, you must also co-operate. Far from being critical of the efforts of the TBCSA members who are contributing both in terms of bottom line contributions to the Business Trust, the voluntary levy as well as in the form of person power, I would urge the doubters to give thanks to the visionaries who are expending time and money and start asking how and in what from they can play a part in the process.
When one considers how the much vaunted Australian tourism success story began, the Tourism Council of Australia (TCA - the TBCSA equivalent( played a critical role. In fact a key focus of their early activities was to raise funds for generid international marketing. Why? Because their government was not funding that activity!
The leadership and vision of key TCA champions lies at the heart of the Australian success story. The principal activity of the TCA, even today, remains full-time lobbying of government to provide funds to the Australia Tourism Commission (ATC - SATOUR's equivalent), in order to preserve and enhance their international generic position.
My department have adopted a new approach to tourism - our mission statement (to use private sector jargon), Is "what can we do to make you - the private sector tourism players - more competitive?" This means that our job is not "doing" tourism behind a desk in Pretoria - but getting our amongst you and only by feeling and experiencing tourism can we achieve our mission. This means that we are getting more direct feedback.
What I am picking up is a slight confusion as to what "government: is. Government is by no means a homogenous entity. We have just won the first round in the process of conscientising government to the wider multiplier benefits inherent in tourism. The WTTC report on the economic contribution to tourism, commissioned by my department, has greatly enhanced the process. Lessons gleaned from our recent visit to Australia and New Zealand with the SATOUR Marketing Partnership Committee will also be useful in shifting perceptions.
We have by no means abandoned the first prize of a TGF. We want to see a TGF that grows as tourism grows. We want it to generate sufficient to fund international generic marketing, to fund provincial marketing as well as development.
My department will continue engaging within government on this matter in objective data driven process that situates the fiscal issues in the context of tourism.
The TBCSA can continue to play a useful role in this regard and should use all resources at its disposal to do so. One that clearly comes to mind is the Business Trust. I wonder whether, given the fact that the Trust is committing bottom line funds to tourism, there is not more room for closer interface between the TBCSA and key players on the Trust.
Our respective tasks are to harness the resources at our disposal in order to achieve our vision - to competitively market South Africa as a "world in one country" in order to position it as the preferred international tourism destination, thus ensuring that tourism becomes the leading economic sector in South Africa.
I thank you
For further information please contact:
Mr David Frost
on 083 251 4716