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SA govt must make tourism, open skies priority - expert

Source: Carin Smith – Fin24, 28/09/2015

Cape Town - The South African government must think seriously about
liberalising the country's skies and addressing the impact of the
current visa regulations, according to David Scowsill, president and
CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

"When I met with President Jacob Zuma in the past I showed him the
importance of the contribution the tourism industry makes and can make
to SA's gross domestic product (GDP)," Scowsill told Fin24 during a
visit to Cape Town after he addressed the World Routes Strategy Summit
in Durban.

He also recently attended the joint high level forum of the UN World
Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) on the importance of the aviation industry working
hand-in-hand with the wider travel and tourism sector in order to
encourage job creation and economic growth.

"The two industries are inextricably linked and mutually
dependent.

One cannot survive without the other," said
Scowsill.

"African states must work together to open the continent`s skies in
order to maximise the potential of the travel and tourism sector."
Scowsill emphasised that the lack of open skies in Africa is due to
protectionist fears among many governments on the continent.

"The economic potential of tourism in Africa is remarkable. According
to our figures it will rival Asia Pacific for growth in the next
decade. But for this to materialise or even be exceeded, it needs
individual nations to work together on progressively implementing the
Yamoussoukro Agreement signed over 25 years ago," he
emphasised.

"The role of aviation in creating jobs and driving economic growth is
too important to be ignored, particularly when restrained by one
ministry`s mandate to protect a national airline.

The industry requires a coherent aviation policy. It cannot make
financial sense for a country to protect one or two companies, at the
expense of the economic growth of an entire industry."

He said travel and tourism generates economic growth, jobs and
investment. Globally the travel and tourism industry supports 277
million jobs, which equates to 1 in 11 jobs on the planet.

Scowsill also pointed out that travel and tourism is also an export
sector. Last year the industry generated nearly 6% of the world`s
export dollars.

"Aviation liberalisation creates more routes, greater competition and
lower fares. We urge the continent`s leaders to fully liberalise
aviation for the potential of our industry to be fully realised," said
Scowsill.

"Ultimately markets have to liberalise and compete. In South America,
for instance, there are now only three airline groupings and they are
all in the private sector. When the airways are liberalised national
carriers must learn to compete and be sustainable or go out of
business."

He pointed out that the total economic contribution of travel and
tourism to South Africa's GDP was R357bn or 9.4% in 2014 and this
contribution was expected to grow by 4.3% per year over the next ten
years.

The industry supported 1.5 million direct, indirect and induced jobs
in 2014, which represented 9.9% of total employment in SA. Travel and
tourism contributes nearly 10% of world GDP.

That is why he urges African governments on behalf of the WTTC to get
involved in discussions about aviation policies so that all role
players can have clarity when making long term decisions.
"A government should take a view on aviation. Does it want more jobs
to be created in the industry or does it want to protect its national
airline?" asked Scowsill.

"We have seen that these kinds of discussions are the most effective
when the president of a country gets involved. The same goes for visa
issues, as the ones SA currently face."

SA's visa issues
Scowsill explained that the WTTC supports any government intervention
regarding child trafficking, but pointed out that many countries found
good ways to tackle the issue of porous borders without resorting to
unabridged birth certificates.

"This has been a step too far by the SA government in our opinion. No
other country requires this and it has already led to a decline in
inbound tourism to SA. We urge Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and
the inter-ministerial committee to look carefully at this issue and to
make changes to the current visa regime," he said.

As for the second visa hurdle recently created by the SA government,
the requirement of biometric data to be taken at the point of
departure, Scowsill said most countries record those kinds of data at
the point of arrival.

In his view the current requirement is also having a dramatic impact
especially on business travel to SA and on the Chinese tourism market,
which is an important new source market for SA.

In his view, for the best economic results, it is also important for
SA and other countries in the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) to try and create a common visa structure for the region.
"Make it easy for people to come here. A common visa for the region, a
common free trade zone and open skies - even if started among just
four or five neighbouring countries - will get the positive economic
impact going," said Scowsill. He praised a similar move in East Africa
as an example.

He pointed out that foreign airlines are being put off participating
in African markets by a range of factors, including high fuel cost,
protectionist tendencies by governments towards their national
carriers, monopolies on ground services, as well as problems with
maintenance and infrastructure.

"It is not that vision of politicians which is lacking. We fully
support the International Air Transport Association's (Iata)
encouragement for the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision,
which pledged to liberalise air services between 44 countries. Yet,
over 25 years after that historic commitment, progress has been
slow.

It is the implementation that has failed," cautioned
Scowsill.

"In that time, Europe`s skies have become fully liberalised to
airlines from within the bloc, creating the example which parts of the
Middle East, Asia, and Latin America have followed.

The Gulf Carriers were born and grew to a point of becoming major
global forces. So much time has passed and so little liberalisation on
the African continent."

He urged the leaders of the African Union to make the long-held dream
of open skies a reality.

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