Tourism in SA: overcoming industry challenges

Source: Tourism Update, 07/09/2018

Overall, the sentiment is one of a positive but realistic outlook. The
trade agree that South Africa is coming off the back of three
remarkably strong years which, according to Monika Iuel, CEO of
Private Safaris, was unprecedented: “The destination has just come out
of a three-year boom, with unprecedented international arrival numbers
and massive capacity challenges.” However, 2018’s numbers are not
looking as positive. According to Tourism Business Council of South
Africa (TBCSA) interim CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa: “The first six
months of the year have been disappointing. International numbers have
declined, and domestic and corporate travel have also been affected by
our poor economy.”
Key industry players agree that, despite this success, the current
stagnation in arrival numbers is largely a self-made problem.
Tshivhengwa uses the analogy of a sewage leak: “If you own a house,
and a sewage pipe bursts, you don’t go and have a meeting about the
pipe �` you fix it. You don’t have a tender discussion about who will
fix the sewage when it is leaking every day. It seems to defy common
sense.”
Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South African Tourism, agrees: “I am a firm
believer that government should not be running business but rather
create the space for business to operate successfully. If we are to
attract investment in the industry, our duty as the public sector at
SA Tourism is to profile the country overseas and drive traffic. It is
a supply-and-demand relationship.”
“We are ready to thrive, but we need government to come to the table.
We need to partner for growth, and government needs to recognise that
growth comes from the private sector in this industry. If they want us
to grow �` as we are wanting to grow �` they need to take down the
things prohibiting our growth,” explains Tshivhengwa.
Judy Lain, Chief Marketing Officer at Wesgro says: “Collaboration is
key in driving growth. If we as a country grow, we all as provinces
and small towns will grow. We need to find new innovative ways of
working together to help all take advantage of the tourism
opportunities this country offers us.” Tshivhengwa further asks that
government begins to realise the tourism industry as a leading space
in the economy. He says the imposition of state regulations shows that
the government has not yet recognised the tourism industry’s place in
the economy, and the potential that comes along with it. “We want to
create jobs as the industry. We want to help grow the economy as the
industry. So we need government to take down the barriers that are
holding us back. This includes things like the unabridged birth
certificates and visa issues, as well as other regulations being
imposed on our industry.
“We have engaged with the correct departments on the visa situation.
We have asked them to show us the data that they say is the reason
behind the imposing of the need for the unabridged birth certificates.
We have been asking for three and a half years and no one has been
able to answer us. It is unnecessary and a direct link to why our
industry is struggling,” adds Tshivhengwa.
In addition to collaborative efforts, unlike most of the rest of the
economy, the tourism industry stands to benefit from a weak rand.
“Although our economy has been declared in a technical recession, our
international market is where there is a silver lining. As the rand
weakens, we can capitalise on that and encourage international
visitors. Travelling to South Africa will be cheaper for them,” says
Ntshona. Lain agrees, saying that, as a developing country, the
benefit of foreign earnings offers a sustainable economic option.
Of course, the potential for growth from of foreign earnings is large.
Creating a multiplying effect, tourism earnings are amongst some of
the furthest reaching in our economy. For example, according to
Statistics SA, one in 23 people in the country is employed in the
tourism industry. In the Western Cape alone, the industry has seen
over 38 000 new jobs created between 2013 and 2017, and tourism’s
contribution to the province’s bottom line through Gross Value Added
grew by 11.5% in 2017, on top of 15.5% growth seen in 2016, according
to Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde. Lain adds:
“Therefore it is so important that we realise that tourism is big
business and take advantage of the opportunities tourism offers.”
However, in order to take advantage of this, the trade agrees that the
industry needs to change the self-prohibiting nature of regulations in
the industry. Lain says: “Today, in South Africa we are faced with
challenges, for example, around visa regulations and red tape, which
are limiting us in reaching our potential. Alleviation of these can
help the industry grow and reach its potential.” Iuel believes that in
order to grow the industry, the markets need to be opened up again by
making it easier to travel here. She says this includes addressing
issues of air access as well as the visa process.
Iuel concludes that there is a need for sensitivity when addressing
growth in the industry, saying: “Growing the tourism numbers whilst
safeguarding our unique selling points of scenic beauty and natural
wildlife will be a massive challenge. Opening up markets (by removing
visa processes etc.) should be done sensitively to ensure
sustainability of our destination’s offerings.”