Annual Review 2000-01: Tourism

Tourism has major potential for a country at our stage of transformation and development. It puts equal value on untouched natural resources and culture. It celebrates the birthright of a nation and has huge potential for speeding up economic empowerment and transformation.

South Africa has great beauty in its land and people. It's a tourism natural. But a pretty face is not enough in this competitive industry. The past year has been devoted to unblocking barriers to tourism and transforming it to more fairly reflect the country's people and assets.

WELCOME

In December 1999, the SA Welcome Campaign was launched to spearhead the building of a tourism nation. It aimed to increase South African awareness about the importance of tourism to the growth of our economy. It encouraged South Africans to make visitors feel safe and welcome.

In the past year, all the major tourism and hospitality players have taken up the campaign. We have broadened the campaign and launched it in at least 30 towns and seven border posts. As an extension to it, the Department has commissioned the Tourism, Hospitality, Education and Training Authority (THETA), with funding from the National Business Initiative, to re-engineer the “Ubuntu We Care” programme.

Few people epitomise DEAT's mission at ground level as effectively as Outa Lappies, aka Jan Schoeman. He spends hours chatting to tourists, who stop to see the beautiful objects he makes from articles others throw away. You'll find him on the Karoo's Prince Albert Road

This revived programme will target a substantial amount of people who interact with tourists from the moment they arrive in the country until their departure. This customer-training programme is known as Welcome Host.

It is based on the Host programme, started in Canada and used with great effect in Australia, the UK and Zimbabwe. It consists of a two-day in-house workshop, and basically teaches people how to go the extra mile for tourists. In addition to people directly involved in the hospitality industry, Welcome Host will focus on those in the banking, telecommunications, transport, conservation and catering sectors.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

The White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa identifies the absence of adequate tourism education and awareness as a great deficiency in the industry.

There is still a lack of knowledge and information among certain communities of what tourism is all about, its importance in everyday life, and the opportunities it presents for economic empowerment.

Tourism is still largely considered a white-dominated industry, and lacks proper involvement of historically disadvantaged sections of our society. We are looking into ways of allowing more previously disadvantaged people to benefit from local and foreign tourism. The Business Trust, through a programme called Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP), has made R66 million over four years available for the development of small and medium-sized tourism businesses. This is expected to yield an eventual total transaction cost of R475 million.

The Tourism Enterprise Programme assists new entrants through advice and expertise.

An exciting part of this programme is that mentors are linked to each fledgling business until it is successful. There is no question of giving funding and then allowing the new entrepreneur to stumble on alone.

After holding some of its planning meetings in townships such as Guguletu and Mamelodi, DEAT has identified a number of new SMMEs in the townships. The Department is developing a database that will make it easy to identify these up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

These SMMEs stand to benefit hugely from the current trends in the hospitality industry and outsourcing of core activities, like laundry, catering and transport.

There is also unused or neglected infrastructure, like abandoned state camping sites that are being acquired for communities to use for tourists.

Some outstanding community-based tourism enterprises are already running. A good example is the Amadiba Community Trust, which takes tourists horse-riding, fly-fishing and canoeing along the Wild Coast.

As communities become aware of the range of tourism types (ecological, cultural, heritage, historical, political, religious, palaeontological), so more are being drawn in.

We are helping communities that are in prime tourism hotspots. A classic example is the Mhinga tribe, just outside Kruger National Park.

POVERTY RELIEF

Deat is identifying and helping small and medium tourism businesses all over the country, especially in rural areas

About R130 million from Poverty Relief funds has been committed towards tourism product development, infrastructure development, capacity building and training, establishment of SMMEs and business development projects within a tourism context.

Nine tourism craft projects were set up in 1999-2000 and a further 76 in the past year. These projects, in all nine provinces, are expected to create 8 600 jobs.

TOURISM INVESTMENT

DEAT is working with the Department of Trade and Industry to develop a holistic and integrated support package for investment into tourism, consisting of training, market linkages, mentorship assistance and access to affordable finance.

The programme is being developed in partnership with key role-players - the Development Bank of SA, the Industrial Development Corporation, Ntsika, Khula, Banking Council, Business Skills SA, National Business Initiative and others.

DEAT is setting up tourism investment opportunities in proposed Transfrontier Parks and Spatial Development Initiatives.

Since adventure and nature tourism are the strengths of underdeveloped rural areas, DEAT is working on a series of spatial clusters linking underfunded regions with existing infrastructure. These tourism corridors will bring the benefits of jobs and growth to poor communities.

The Department has commissioned a R400 000 study into potential tourism opportunities in the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park. It has also initiated closer contact with a number of major international tourism investors.

ITMAS

The aim of the International Tourism Marketing Scheme (ITMAS) is to partially compensate small to medium businesses for certain costs incurred while promoting international tourism to South Africa.

Of the R4 million funds, R1 513 113 was spent in 2000, benefiting about 682 entrepreneurs. Of the remaining fund, R1 million was used to subsidise the attendance of black emerging entrepreneurs at Indaba 2001 in Durban.

DOMESTIC TOURISM

The Department has recognised that domestic tourism has a crucial role to play in the building of a tourist-friendly culture among South Africans.

It is a significant job creator in its own right (87%of South Africa's tourism is domestic). And it exposes South Africans to their own country and what it has to offer.

Domestic tourism is also far less fickle than foreign tourism.

By July 2001, an in-depth analysis into the domestic tourism market will be completed. For the first time, it will show factors never before recorded as domestic tourism, for example the annual religious pilgrimages from across Southern Africa to Moria in the Northern Province.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Through the Business Trust, three major tourism projects were launched in the past year.

The Learnership programme, managed by THETA, will have its first intake of students by mid-2001. Over the past year, qualifications have been developed, and submitted to the Department of Labour and the SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Over four years, the Learnership Programme will train 5 000 unemployed people and upgrade the skills of another 10 000 people already working in the hopitality industry.
The Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) assists new entrants into the industry.
The South African Tourism Institute (SATI) was launched in October 2000. It is the culmination of three years of hard work by DEAT, the Spanish government which has committed R15,7 million to the project, and THETA. SATI seeks to enhance the capacity building of educationists, trainers and assessors, as well as provide a research hub for improving professionalism in the field of training in the industry.

THETA concentrates on training and education in a number of industry sectors. These include:

Travel and tourism services.
Hospitality.
Gaming and gambling.
Conservation and leisure.

The aim is to have 20 training providers prepared, 15 qualifications registered and to have 1 250 employees acquiring new unit standards by 31 December 2001.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

After a three-year moratorium, a 19-member, fully representative National Grading Council was appointed on 4 September 2000 after 36 tourism concerns sent in their nominations.

On 13 December 2000, the President signed the Act transferring the tour guide function from SA Tourism to DEAT and the provinces.

UNBLOCKING TOURISM

Up until now, South African marketing has focused on the Big Six (the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and USA). SA Tourism is starting to focus on emerging markets like India, Japan, China and South East Asia.

The problems hindering tourism development include:

A scarcity of Japanese-speaking tour guides.
Non-Japanese guides do not understand their culture and make costly blunders, since Japanese law allows for refunds of tour costs for a large range of unsatisfactory elements.
China does not recognise South Africa as a tourism country. South African visas are only issued in Beijing, take 15 days to process, and require a deposit of R15 000.
There are also not enough tour guides speaking Chinese languages.
Indian tourists often demand-specific food requirements, and while there are many excellent Indian restaurants, we are a long way off fully supplying their needs, for example Jain vegetarian food. Major Indian tour operators take their own food kitchens with them to Europe.
International credit cards are not accepted at local enterprises, or for petrol.

Close to 60% of all visitors are classified as nature tourists

SA Tourism offered a series of seminars in January 2000, bringing together top outbound operators from Japan.

Their presentations to the South African travel trade included topics like “How to do business with the Japanese Travel Trade” and “How to handle visitors from Japan”.

These were highly successful and we intend following this up with similar seminars on India, China and the Middle East.

At an intergovernmental level, support for South Africa's tourism strategy has been firmly established through the system of Cabinet and the Director-General Clusters. DEAT has reached agreements with the following departments and agencies:

Local government authorities have committed to assisting in litter clean-up of all areas, but most specifically high-density tourist areas.
The Department of Transport is working on improved road signage.
Government Communication and Information Services is developing and communicating the brand identity “South Africa Incorporated”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing tourism promotion seminars for all Ambassadors and High Commissioners before posting.
DEAT and the Department of Minerals and Energy are developing a strategy for using mines as tourist attractions.
The Department of Labour has accommodated hospitality and travel industry concerns with regard to labour legislation.
Business Against Crime, South African Airways and the Centre for Science and Information Research (CSIR) have collaborated with the Department in handling situations where tourists have fallen victim to crime.
Home Affairs is incorporating elements of the Welcome Host training modules in their immigration officials training courses.
In May 2000, the SADC Ministers of Tourism considered a proposal which will improve tourist access to the region.

The Univisa system would allow tourists to enter the region at one SADC country and automatically be granted permission to travel to others, without stringent immigration clearances. We expect the system to be in place by 2005.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

South Africa is a member of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation (IOTO), and the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (Retosa).

It is becoming increasingly clear that SADC countries are not our competitors. Instead, their tourism strengths help build the whole region, hence South Africa’s involvement in helping to market the Okavango Upper Zambezi Initiative (OUZIT) SDI, which falls wholly outside our borders.

The political instability and conflicts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe have impacted negatively on tourism to the whole region.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Sutherland in the Northern Cape will become an astronomical tourism attraction once the most powerful telescope in the world is completed in three years' time

The World Travel and Tourism Council has declared tourism the world’s largest industry.

Worldwide, it employs one in every nine workers.
In South Africa, tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing and mining, and is poised to overtake mining in the near future.
Tourism in South Africa employs one in every 16 workers.
South Africa’s tourism economy contributes 8,2% of GDP, compared to the international tourism's contribution of 11,7%. Some analysts feel that South African tourism can realistically contribute 15% to GDP.
Since 1994, tourism contribution to national GDP has grown at an annual rate of 2,2%.
More than 2,8 million overseas visitors arrived in South Africa between January and June 2000, an increase of 4,4% over the same period in 1999.
Expenditure by foreign tourists grew by R1,1 million in the first half of 2000.
The total revenue generated by foreign arrivals in the past year is estimated at R7,1 billion.
Tourism makes about R20 billion a year for the country.
The total amount the average foreign tourist spends on a trip to South Africa has grown from R16 853 in 1994 to R23 800 in 2000. Of this, only R9 800 is spent within the country. The rest is spent outside, on airline tickets and accommodation.
Last year, South Africans made about 16 million trips to destinations within their own country.
French, German, American, Italian, British and Dutch tourists make up 37% of all our overseas visitors.
Of the Africans that visit South Africa, 37% come from Lesotho, 18% from Swaziland, 13% from Botswana and 11% from Zimbabwe.
South Africa is currently ranked 21st in the world for hosting international meetings.
International conferences annually contribute R950 million to the South African GDP, as well as 12 000 jobs.
The entire MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events) industry in South Africa contributes 246 000 jobs and R6 billion in salaries annually.
Foreign MICE tourists spend R1 450 a day, on average.
About 76% of all international delegates said they feel safe in South Africa.
93% said they would visit South Africa again.

DID YOU KNOW?

More than 60% of all tourists choose a destination based on the good experiences of someone they know.
Steve Griesel of Tourvest says that, contrary to popular belief, adventure tourists like backpackers spend as much as traditional tourists. It is just accommodation that they skimp on.
South Africa’s most popular foreign visitor attraction is the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, followed by Cape Point, the Wine Route, the Garden Route, Kruger Park, Table Mountain, the Durban beachfront, Kirstenbosch, ostrich farms in the Klein Karoo, and the Blyde River Canyon, in that order.
Of all foreign tourists, 42% visit a historical site, 38% visit a museum, 29% visit a cultural village, 18% visit a casino and 17% visit a theatre or see a concert.
Within three years, over 35% of all tourism bookings will be via the Internet.
The highest spending tourists come from North America and the Far East.
South Africa’s domestic tourism dominates the market, representing 87% of total visitors. African visitors represent another 10% and non-Africans 3%.
Tourism jobs make up 7,2% of total employment in South Africa.

OUR KINDS OF TOURISM

Whale-watching off the South African coast now generates over R490m a year

Not long ago, travel to wild places and resort hotels seemed to account for most tourism activities. The list is growing.

Ecotourism: Internationally, 40-60% of all tourists are classified as nature tourists (who want to enjoy scenery, wilderness and wild animals).
Adventure: A small but growing niche of travellers are hooked on the adrenalin rushes nature provides. They enjoy mountain climbing, abseiling, shark diving, bungee jumping, white-water rafting, and are prepared to pay handsomely for the privilege.
Fossils: South Africa, thanks to the finds at Sterkfontein, outside Johannesburg, is now being acknowledged as the Cradle of Humankind, the place where humans evolved. The country is also one of the richest in the world in dinosaur bones, much older than the creatures shown in Jurassic Park.
Spiritual: This is a little-known form of tourism, but significant among many South Africans. Hundreds of thousands visit Moria in the Northern Province every year, and many thousands of people visit certain caves and holy sites in the Eastern Free State. Overseas visitors are often interested in visiting old mission stations.
Struggle: Many foreigners and local people are interested in tracing how South Africa achieved its democracy.
Historical: Different kinds of history appeal to different people, and because this country has such a rich past, it attracts visitors interested in the South African War, the Dutch colonisation of South Africa, the French Huguenots, and African history, like the legacy of Mapungubwe.
Cultural: This can range from an interest in the different cultures of races and tribes in South Africa to an interest in arts and crafts, theatre and art galleries, rock art, museums and heritage sites.
Food: Growing numbers of people travel to experience the foods of a region. Australia turned its national cuisine into something of an art form. We are only now looking at our diverse food influences and experimenting with African, Malay, French, Indian and Afrikaans flavours.
Sport: Hosting large events like the World Cup can generate millions in revenue publicity. But even without those big events, SA Tourism has calculated that more than 10% of all foreign visitors come to watch or participate in a sports event. It generates R250 million in spending every year.
Conference: South Africa is turning into a very popular conference and incentives venue. Delegates spend up to three times the amount normal tourists spend. Researchers find that many delegates treat conferences as a “soft introduction” to a country they might not have visited alone.
Agricultural: Many city folk yearn for a return to the countryside, and farm stays are becoming more and more popular, especially in the domestic market.
Shopping: Visitors from neighbouring states often come to buy goods not available in their own countries. Our exchange rate is very attractive for overseas tourists. Shopping boosts our craft, manufacturing and transport industries.
Educational: South Africa is seen as a very affordable place to learn English as a second language for Japanese, Indian and Malaysian people.
Medical: South Africa has excellent plastic surgeons and dentists, plus luxury hideaways for those who want a nip and tuck or facelift at half the price it would cost them in Europe or the US. Many visitors from the rest of Africa also come for medical treatment at private clinics.
Golf: We have world-class golf courses. For golfers from some countries, like Japan, it’s cheaper to fly to South Africa and play golf for a week than to play one game back home.