6

TOURISM

7

OOver the last tenyears, tourism in

South Africa hasemerged as a leading

economic growth sec-tor. It is now one of the

largest contributors toGross Domestic Product

(GDP), and offers significantemployment and enterprise

development opportunities.

Tourism is the fastest growing economicsector in South Africa, contributing close to

7,1% of the GDP. It is a labour-intensiveindustry that brings in foreign revenue and

stimulates a broad range of other industries.Tourism’s phenomenal growth, has been generated

through concerted and focused action on the part ofDEAT and its partners, namely the tourism industry and

communities.

In respect of the community partnerships, a key part of DEAT’swork has been in linking impoverished communities living in

areas of high tourism potential, to tourist flows through investmentsin both tourism infrastructure and products.

SSTTAARR AATTTTRRAACCTTIIOONN

DEAT`s tourism partners alsoincludes its statutory body SouthAfrican Tourism (SAT), and theTourism Grading Council. SAT isresponsible for South Africa’sinternational tourism marketingand the Grading Council to setstandards for various tourismproducts and services. ThroughTourism, Hospitality and SportEducation and Training Authority(THETA), learnership pro-grammes, to train and upgrade theskills of people working in thehospitality industry, have beenestablished. This effort has beenfurther boosted by the depart-ment’s welcome campaign and SAhost programmes targeted atSouth Africans who frequentlyinteract with tourists – for example,people in other governmentdepartments, banking, telecom-munications, transport, conserva-tion and catering – to go the extramile.

DEAT has also set up a number ofinitiatives to guide and fundprospective tourism entrep-reneurs, particularly through theTourism Enterprise Programme(TEP). TEP assists in establishingbusiness transactions betweenSmall, Medium and MicroEnterprises (SMME) and moreestablished firms. Support is alsoprovided to small businesses toattend and showcase theirproducts at travel shows abroadand in South Africa. In 2004 DEATfunded 254 SMME’s to attendIndaba, Africa’s premier Travel andTourism trade show in Durban.The TEP was also a majorsupporter of the Gauteng TourismShowcase in February 2004,which attracted over 150exhibitors. Also in 2004, DEATfunded four and two SMMEsrespectively to participate in theInternational Tourism Bourse inBerlin and the Common wealthTravelMart in Kuala Lumpur.

Appreciating the potential oftourism in the region’s economicgrowth, South Africa has nowbecome an active member of theSouthern African tourismmarketing body, the RegionalTourism Organisation of SouthernAfrica (RETOSA). Participationand membership has also beenextended to international tourisminstitutions as part of an overallstrategy of ensuring that themanagement of the tourism sectoris in line with the internationaltrends. In this regard South Africais also a member of the WorldTourism Organisation (WTO) andthe Indian Ocean TourismOrganisation (IOTO), amongstothers.

Other forms of internationaltourism relations are at thebilateral level. There are tourismagreements with various countriesthrough which partner countriesboth receive and provide technical

8

TOURISM

assistance and undertake jointmarketing activities. Throughinternational tourism relations,South Africa plays its role withinthe community of nations inpromoting growth anddevelopment through tourism.

Within the content of a range ofinterventions including those setout above, tourism therefore, isincreasingly playing its role as acatalyst for economic and socialdevelopment across the country.

BBEEFFOORREE 11999944

The isolationism of apartheiddelayed SA’s entry onto the worldstage in many areas, includingtourism.

Prior to 1994, the potential oftourism to generate jobs, createentrepreneurs, attract foreignincome, enhance economic

growth and develop ruralcommunities, remained untestedand ignored.Tourism marketing was neglected.The existing tourism productswere exclusively in the hands ofwhite owners. Community-basedtourism was unknown. The passlaws and influx control had madedomestic leisure travel all butimpossible for the majority of thepopulation. By 1994, the year ofthe first democratic elections, theannual number of visitors stood at3.7 million.

PPOOLLIICCYY AANNDD LLEEGGIISSLLAATTIIOONN

Since the first democratic electionsin 1994, tourism in South Africahas changed fundamentally. Thenew Government identifiedtourism as one of the country’s keyeconomic sectors because of itsmassive potential to create newjobs and generate foreign

AFRICAN TOURISM

According to the World Tourism

Organisation:

• In 2002, Africa attracted

approximately 4% of the total

tourism market, and generated US

$475 billion of revenue.

• Regionally, South Africa is the pre-

mier destination, attracting about

50% of tourists to the Southern

African Development Communities

(SADC) countries.

• Botswana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe,

Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt

are the other key tourism destina-

tions.

• Africa is dominated by intra-regional

travel – in 2000, 42% of all travel to

Africa emanated from within the con-

tinent. Europe is the next most

important source of visitors, compris-

ing over 38% of arrivals.

• A New Partnership for Africa’s

Development Tourism Action

(NEPAD) Plan has been developed.

DEAT partnered with the NEPAD

Secretariat in developing the action

plan.

South Africa has managed to achieve relatively high levels of community involvement in nature tourism

9

revenue. It was one of the fewsectors that showed enormouspotential to provide economicopportunities to historicallydisadvantaged communitiesthroughout the country.

Tourism was identified as one ofthe five top economic sectors thatwould reverse a sluggisheconomy, mobilise domestic andforeign investment and developSMMEs.

For tourism, as with many othersectors, an inclusive, participativeprocess was followed, giving thepreviously excluded members ofsociety a voice in government’spolicy-making process.

In order to guide the future rate oftourism, and through aparticipative and inclusiveprocess, the 1996 White Paper onthe Development and Promotionof Tourism in South Africa wasdeveloped. The White Paperestablishes the vision of a tourismindustry that would be government-led, private-sectordriven and community-based. TheWhite Paper also sets the stage

for responsible tourism as the keyguiding principle for tourismdevelopment in the country.

Another important contribution ofthe process of formulating policywas that, it forged consensus andcollaboration between role-playersin government and industry. As aresult, a strong public-privatetourism partnership has beenestablished.

SSTTRRAATTEEGGIICC AAPPPPRROOAACCHHEESS

The key objective of tourism inSouth Africa over the past decadehas been to enhance its role as adriver of socio-economicdevelopments.

In this regard, DEAT’s tourism goalhas been to create conditions forsustainable tourism growth anddevelopment for the benefit of allSouth Africans. The departmenthas sought to achieve this throughensuring effective and efficientdomestic and internationalmarketing; developing acompetitive and transformedtourism product and servicesplatform; addressing gaps in thetourism logistics value chain andbuilding a tourism nation.Furthermore, DEAT hasendeavoured to strengthencooperative governance in thetourism sector; to promote regionaland continental tourism growth;and to lead South Africans in acoherent and effectiveengagement in internationalagreements and events in tourism.

Over the past ten years some ofthe strategic tourism developmenthighlights have included thefollowing:

• The formation of the TourismBusiness Council of SouthAfrica, as the representativeof South Africa’s tourismindustry (1996);

• The establishment, byprovinces, of provincialtourism bodies andmechanisms to develop thissector;

• Amendment of the TourismAct to transform the SouthAfrican Tourism Board (1999);

• Grading Council of SouthAfrica constituted to drive thegrading system previouslyunder South African Tourism(2000);

• Cabinet approval of theUnblocking Strategy in

10

TOURISM

tourism through which otherGovernment Departmentsand spheres of governmentwould assist, through theiractivities, to grow tourism(2000);

• Cabinet approval of theTourism TransformationStrategy (2001);

• Enactment of the SecondTourism Amendment Act,formalising tourist guiding

(2001);• Ratification by South Africa of

the SADC TourismDevelopment Protocol (2002);

• Signing of tourisminternational agreements withabout twenty countries;

• South Africa joined variousinternational tourismorganisations, including WTO,RETOSA, IOTO and theAfrica Travel Association(ATA);

RReessppoonnssiibbllee TToouurriissmm

According to the 1996 White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa, responsibletourism was described as “an absolute necessity if South Africa is to emerge as a successful internationalcompetitor”. Guidelines as well as a manual for Responsible Tourism were designed by DEAT during 2002 asa basis for implementing responsible tourism practices throughout the tourism industry.

Responsible tourism took a major step forward in 2002 with the inception of the annual Imvelo Awards forResponsible Tourism in the hospitality industry and a year later, with the introduction of the Fair Trade in TourismSouth Africa trademark.

Responsible tourism essentiallypromotes principles that emphasiseaccountability to:

• the environment throughbalanced and sustainabletourism activities;

• local communities living neartourism attractions;

• local culture, throughpreventing over-commercialisation andexploitation, and throughpromoting respect;

• the safety, security and healthof visitors; and

• employers and employees,both to each other and to theircustomers. Responsible tradeunion practices andemployment practices areemphasised.

Gauteng province has adopted andadapted the responsible tourismguidelines for application in the province’s tourism initiatives.

11

• Cabinet approval of theinternational Tourism GrowthStrategy (2002);

• Launch of the DomesticTourism Strategy (2004);

• Completion of phase one ofthe tourism GlobalCompetitiveness Study(2004);

• Government funding of theTourism EnterpriseProgramme (2004).

Former Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa with Di Jones of the MalealeaLodge, Adventure & Pony Trek Centre in Lesotho, overall winner of theImvelo Awards for Responsible Tourism in 2003

AACCHHIIEEVVEEMMEENNTTSS

International Tourism Growth

After the peaceful elections of1994, there was an immediate anddramatic rise in the number ofvisitors to SA, an indication of theworld’s eagerness to visit acountry in transition. By 1998, thenumbers of annual visitors hadrisen to 5.7 million, from 3.7 millionin 1994. Links with the rest of theworld were rapidly being re-established. A growing number ofairlines also introduced flights toSA, bringing increasing number oftourists.

However, terrorist attacks of 11September 2001 in New Yorkradically altered global tourismtrends. For SA, though, thedisaster proved an unexpectedcatalyst for tourism growth. Sincethe incident, South Africa has beenseen as a safe destination. SA’stourism product platform, culturaldiversity and natural beauty, alsoprovide powerful magnets for inter-national tourists.

In order to consolidate thesetrends, the department and SA T.in 2002 launched an internationalTourism Growth Strategy, basedon an intensive market segmenta-tion study. Core markets wereidentified and a far more focused

marketing strategy was developedand implemented. This focusedmarketing is directed at increasingthe number of tourists arrivals,increasing spend, increasinglength of stay and promotinggeographical spread of tourists.

More and more internationalmeetings are being held in SA,and the meeting, incentive, confer-encing, and events (MICE) sectorhas experienced a boom. Largeglobal events such as the WorldSummit on SustainableDevelopment (WSSD), contributedenormously in this regard.

The year 2002 saw a boom in SAtourism, with total foreign touristarrivals growing by an unprece-dented 11.1% to 6.4 million. Thecountry became the fastestgrowing destination in the world.Overseas tourist arrivals grew by20.3% and arrivals from Africa by7.7%. This affirmed the fact thatthe Tourism Growth Strategy wasworking. Important to note is thatthese achievements were record-ed despite a global decline ininternational arrivals.

In 2004, DEAT, the Department ofTrade and Industry (dti) and SATourism commissioned the GlobalCompetitiveness Study into SouthAfrica’s tourism industry. The studyaims to identify products, services,and infrastructure gaps within thetourism industry and to developinterventions to address thesegaps. In this way the intention is toenhance the value andcompetitiveness of the SouthAfrican tourism industry. The firstphase of the study has beencompleted. The second phase willconcentrate on developingstrategies for intervention to dealwith identified gaps as well asconsolidating our strengths.

Efforts to expand the tourism havealso included the development ofrelations with key strategiccountries.

12

South Africa is also considered rich in ethnic/cultural tourism resources

TOURISM

South Africa is comparatively well-endowed with world-class tourismresources and has well-developedtourism facilities and services. Thecountry offers a diverse range ofattractions and attracts consid-erable numbers of international,regional and domestic tourists.

Many of South Africa’s tourismproducts are in the ecotourismsector, linked to biodiversity andwildlife conservation. Theseinclude game reserves, birdsanctuaries, fresh water reserves,health spas and natural heritagesites.

Linked to these are tourismactivities including walks, gamedrives and hiking, as well as moreadventure-oriented products like4x4 trails, hiking trails, ponytrekking, mountain biking, ab-seiling, bungee jumping, mountainclimbing and gold panning.

Archaeological or historicaltourism resources represent 11%of all tourism resources. Theyinclude archaeological or palaen-tological sites, historical buildings,churches and cathedrals, battle-fields, museums, statues andcemeteries.

South Africa is also rich in culturaltourism resources. Many peopleconsider this South Africa’sgreatest strength, namely thediversity of its people, and therichness of their cultural heritage.Cultural attractions includefestivals, dances and music,traditional architecture, culturalvillages, traditional dress andcustoms, cuisine, films, theatreand music.

Arts and crafts are also importanttourist magnets, and their impor-tance is increasingly beingemphasised. They can generate

substantial amountsof foreign currency,while creatingSMMEs, black eco-nomic empowermentand employment.Many of these prod-ucts also have anoverseas market.They include tradi-tional and modernAfrican arts andcraft, leatherwork,paintings or sketch-es, weaving and knit-ting, pottery, glassand ceramics, jew-ellery and wood-carving. DEAT isworking closely withthe TEP, the Depart-ments of Arts andCulture, Trade andIndustry, and otherorganisations todevelop and streng-then this sector.

13

South Africa’sTourism Resources

The bulk of South Africa’s tourism products are in the ecotourism sector, linkedto biodiversity and wildlife conservation.

South African crafts and décor are now in demand allover the world.

A priority in this regard is thedevelopment of South-Southcooperation between India, Braziland South Africa (IBSA). Over thepast year, a trilateral commissionto improve relations between thethree countries has beenestablished. Tourism is one of thekey areas for cooperationidentified in the IBSA process. Inthis regard, a Plan of Action will beimplemented over the next fewyears.

Another major achievement wasthe signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding between SA andthe People’s Republic of China, inNovember 2002, according SouthAfrica Approved Des- tinationStatus (ADS). SA became the 27thcountry to receive this status, andat that time it was only the secondcountry on the African continent tobe granted ADS (the other beingEgypt). The ADS entitles SA to

market group leisure activities inChina, and contributes to thesimplification of tourist travelprocedures from the Chinesemainland to South Africa. Sincereceiving ADS, there has been asignificant growth in Chinesetourists coming to SA.

Domestic Tourism Growth

A Domestic Tourism GrowthStrategy has been developed bythe department and SAT, and waslaunched in May 2004 at theTourism Indaba.

The domestic tourism market iscomparable with the internationaltourism market in terms of sizeand value. This domestic market iscurrently valued at someR47 billion, with domestic touristshaving undertaken 49.3 milliontrips in 2002-2003. This comparesvery favourably with the R53.9 bil-

lion generated through the6.5 million international touristarrivals in 2003. Researchindicates that there is immenseopportunity to generate moreholiday travel from the domesticmarket. In this regard, only about20% of the domestic populationcurrently takes trips for holidaypurposes.

The opportunity therefore, existsto massively grow the domesticmarket, increase the value of themarket and combat issues ofseasonality, limited geographicspread and limited tripexpenditure. Support of the localindustry by South Africans wouldalso lead to improved quality inproduct and services, as well asimproved occupancy levels.

A vibrant domestic tourism marketalso has the added benefit ofreducing the exposure of the

14

TOURISM

Tourism was identified as one of the country’s key industries because of its massive potential to create new jobs andgenerate foreign income.

tourism industry to fluctuations ininternational demand, particularlygiven that international tourismcan be extremely sensitive toglobal political and economicfactors.

The further growth of the domestictourism market will however,require concerted effort by variousgovernment departments toaddress specific barriers todomestic travel, namely:

• access to efficient and safepublic transport;

• inadequate access toinformation, amongst SouthAfricans, on travel optionsand opportunities; and

• limited holiday travel,particularly on the part ofblack South Africans, due toprevious apartheidrestrictions.

Creating Equity in TourismProducts

Comparatively speaking, SouthAfrica is endowed with anabundance of world-class tourismresources and products.However, black ownership oftourism assets has been minimal.As a result, Government hasembarked on a policy of conscioussupport for the development ofblack-owned and operated tourismproducts.

Two key objectives of governmentin developing the tourism industryare to build a world-class tourismdestination, and concurrently tointegrate historically disadvan-taged communities into themainstream of the tourismeconomy.

Some of DEAT’s transformationand growth initiatives include the

following:• In 2001, DEAT commissioned

a study to formulate aTransformation Strategy forthe South African tourismindustry. The goal was toidentify and promote tourismsub-sectors in which blackbusinesses would have acomparative advantage.These included accommo-dation, conferences, transportand catering. DEAT providedthe Transformation Strategy toall government departments,together with a database ofblack-owned tourism products.Government departmentswere requested to make useof these products and servicesin their respective procure-ment practices.

• DEAT has assumed responsi-bility for the funding of the TEP,a key instrument in supportingthe growth and development ofSMMEs.

15

A key objective for Government has been to integrate historically disadvantaged communities into the mainstream of thetourism economy.

• A scorecard based onGovernment’s broad-basedBlack EconomicEmpowerment (BEE) strategyis currently underdevelopment for the tourismindustry. This is being done inpartnership with the TourismBusiness Council of SouthAfrica (TBCSA). Aprocurement tool is also beingdeveloped for DEAT, whichwould allow for the tracking ofthe Department’s procurementexpenditure on tourism.

• Government’s incentives forSMMEs has now been openedto tourism entrepreneurs.

• The national SpatialDevelopment Initiative (SDI) isa programme of nationalGovernment aimed atunblocking the inherenteconomic potential in specificlocations in SA. Many of theSDIs in South Africa are aimedat diversifying the rural econo-my, linking various productstogether, and skilling people.These interventions are beingconducted largerly throughpoverty alleviation projects.Some of the SDIs that are

being implemented includeLubombo, Mapungubwe,Maloti Drakensberg and WildCoast. The Greater St LuciaWetlands Park, part ofLumbombo SDI, has alreadygenerated over R500m worthof private sector investment.

• The establishment of (TFCAs)between neighbouring coun-tries in the region is a relativelynew development. TFCAs arecontiguous, protected orconservation areas, acrossthe international boundaries oftwo or more countries. Apartfrom the obvious benefits ofbiodiversity protection, TFCAsprovide an effective instrumentfor trans-border ecotourismdevelopment. In this respect,they also provide as a meansof socio-economic upliftmentin what are mostly poor ruralareas. Presently there are sixidentified TFCAs which SA,through DEAT and twoimplementing agenciesnamely, South African NationalParks and Ezemvelo KZNWildlife are involved in. Theyinclude the following: • Ai – Ais / Richtersveld

(investment generated –R27 million)

• Kgalagadi (investmentgenerated – R65.5 million)

• Lumbombo (investmentgenerated R46.5 million)

• Greater Limpopo (R60.8million)

• Maloti – Drakensberg(investment generated -R170 million)

• Limpopo / Shashe (invest-ment generated - R46.5million).

• The Tourism InfrastructureInvestment Frameworkdefined priority areas fortourism infrastructureinvestment (PATIIs), andhighlighted the infrastructureinvestment requirementswithin these areas. TheDepartment’s poverty relieffunding has been focused on

these PATTIIs, in order tostimulate tourism-basedeconomic activities.

Communities, Entrepreneursand Empowerment

The tourism sector has becomeone of the key drivers of economicexpansion and job creation in SA.SMMEs operating directly andindirectly within the industry areexpected to make an importantcontribution to poverty alleviationjob creation and black economicempowerment.

Due to the inclusiveness andspread of the tourism value chain,there are many opportunities forSMME involvement. The directly-involved enterprises includeaccommodation, tour operatorsand tourist guides. More broadly,there are SMMEs that derive atleast part of their income fromtourism as plumbers, cleaners,caterers and other serviceproviders supplying the hospitalityindustry.

Nationally, some key institutionssupporting small businesses are:• Khula Enterprise Finance,

which offers ‘wholesalefinance’ or guarantees tocommercial banks, which inturn finance small and mediumenterprises. It also helpsentrepreneurs with businessplans and offers free mentor-ship after the loan has beenconcluded.

• Ntsika Enterprise PromotionAgency which is responsiblefor providing and coordinatingtraining and other non-financial support functions tosmall businesses.

Other instruments availableinclude:

• The Small Medium EnterpriseDevelopment Programme(SMEDP), housed in DTI,which offers cash grants totourism-related business.

16

TOURISM

Tourism generates a significant partof the country’s GDP.

• The average annual growthrate in international touristarrivals to South Africabetween 1994 and 2002 hasbeen 8.8%.

• According to a study done bySA Tourism, domestic tourismconstitutes approximately 67%of tourism activity in SouthAfrica.

• Of all foreign visitors to SouthAfrica, 72% are from Africa.

• South Africa attracts 1.9% ofthe world’s travelers.

• According to a study done bythe Japan InternationalCooperation Agency, SouthAfrica has over 6 300 touristattractions.

• South Africa has more than 52000 accommodation rooms.

• According to Statistics SouthAfrica, the country offers anaverage of 1.6 million roomnights a month and registersan average occupancy of54.2%.

• The average monthly revenuefor accommodation in thecountry amounts to almostR593 million.

• Of all the accommodationavailable in the country, 1.2million rooms nights per monthare ungraded accommodation(grading is carried out on avoluntary basis), with an aver-age occupancy rate of 56%.

• Of the graded accommoda-tion, 93 000 room nights areone and two star facilities withoccupancy of 44%; 175 522are three star with an averageoccupancy of 41.2% and 79856 are four star with an aver-age occupancy of 56.6%. Thefive star category contains 32922 room nights with an occu-pancy rate of 74.9%.

• The National Star GradingScheme for the tourism sectorwas officially launched inNovember 2001 and sincethen, the Tourism GradingCouncil of South Africa hasgraded 1 700 establishments.

17

Numbers CountNumbers Count

Cultural tourism is one of South Africa’s strengths.

A few useful facts and figures on tourism:

These grants may be used tofund buildings, furniture,equipment or tourism vehicles.

• The Development Bank ofSouthern Africa provides loanfunding for tourisminfrastructure. It does notdirectly finance SMMEs, butinstead actively promotessmall enterprise developmentvia sub-contracting andaffirmative procurementconditions attached to itsloans.

• The Industrial DevelopmentCorporation provides financialassistance to commercialprojects in the medium to largesectors of the tourism industry.The minimum loan size is R1million, with lower financialand collateral requirements forhistorically disadvantagedentrepreneurs.

Interventions in respect ofpromoting business support werealso undertaken under the

auspices of the TransformationForum chaired by DEAT. Keyactivities included:

• A funding review to assessexisting funding and supportinstruments available totourism businesses in SouthAfrica, and the delivery of anaction plan to stakeholders onthe interventions required toenhance the effectiveness ofthese instruments for tourismentrepreneurs.

• The development of an SMMEsupport handbook and theupdating of the fundinghandbook. The support andfunding handbooks arecurrently being revised to bemore user-friendly and wouldincorporate sections on Howto Start a Tourism Business;Funding and Support availablefor tourism SMMEs as well asMarketing Your TourismBusiness. The handbookswould also contain contact

details of relevant tourismtrade organisations and publicsector tourism bodies. Thehandbook will be translatedinto four official languages andwill be ready for distribution inAugust 2004.

The Tourism Enterprise Pro-gramme (TEP) is a significanttourism SMME support pro-gramme initiated by the privatesector. TEP is a four-yearprogramme funded by theBusiness Trust to the amount ofR60 million. The objective of TEPis to assist small businessesdirectly and indirectly involved inthe tourism industry. Theassistance is in the form ofbusiness transaction linkages withlarger, established enterprises.The primary emphasis of TEP’sactivities is on historicallydisadvantaged individuals andenterprises.

Last year the number of firms

18

TOURISM

A Key part of DEAT’s work has been in linking impoverished communities with high tourism potential to existinginfrastructure and attractions.

assisted by TEP increased from270 to 579. The value oftransactions increased from R37million to R463 million. Thenumber of jobs created rose from1 876 to 5 728. The number oftransactions increased from 190 to463 of which 357 were enterprisesowned by historically disadvan-taged individuals.

Since its inception until the end of2003, TEP facilitated a total of 2912 transactions, of which 2 034(69.8%) were transactionsinvolving enterprises owned byhistorically disadvantage individ-uals. A total of 5 985 enterprisesare registered with TEP forassistance.

TEP has also assisted DEAT byproviding training and capacity-building support to black-ownedbusinesses listed on DEAT’sprocurement database.

DEAT, through TEP is establishing

a black business database. Thedatabase will be used as a basisfor DEAT’s procurement activities. In 2003, DEAT provided R5.7m toTEP to develop a comprehensivetourism SMME trainingprogramme. The piloting of thetraining programme and itsimplementation will begin inSeptember 2004. In addition,DEAT has secured R37 million tofund TEP over the next threeyears.

Community-based Tourism is alsoa priority for DEAT. In this regard,the Department’s poverty relieffunding has been largely focusedon community-based tourismprojects in South Africa. Theseprojects aim to create tourismproducts owned and managed bycommunities.

In addition, DEAT has investedapproximately R1.3 million ofpoverty relief funding in the WildCoast Project, which is co-funded

by the European Union. The four-year programme started in 2000and is focused on generatingsustainable jobs and income,including the training of communitymembers, along the EasternCape’s Wild Coast. The project isfocused on skills development,enterprise development and theestablishment of community andprivate sector tourism-basedpartnerships.

TTrraaiinniinngg aanndd HHuummaannRReessoouurrcceess

A skilled human resource platformis key to growing tourism, as wellas ensuring high qualities ofservice in the tourism industry.

Because of this, human resource development is seen as crucial,and for this purpose, institutionslike the THETA and South AfricanTourism Institute (SATI) have been

19

Arts and crafts are often relegated to the informal sector of the economy, yet they can generate substantial amounts offoreign currency, while creating SMMEs, black economic empowerment and self-employment for many of the country’scitizens.

established.

(THETA) was established in March2000 as the Sector Education andTraining Authority (SETA) for

tourism. Government has estab-lished SETAs to assist with theskills development across theeconomy.

THETA conducts its activitieswithin the following five chambers:• Hospitality

• Gambling and lotteries• Travel and tourism services• Sport, recreation and fitness• Conservation and guiding.

It covers an estimated 42 000employers and 60 000 employees

who are distributed across its fivechambers.

THETA is responsible for ensuringthat training programmes andqualifications are of a highstandard throughout the country,by accrediting education and

training providers, monitoringprovision and registeringassessors.Amongst the tourism skillsdevelopment programmesmanaged by THETA are:

• The Integrated Nature-basedTourism and ConservationProgramme (INTAC), fundedby the Department of Labourthrough the SkillsDevelopment Fund is a three-year, R107 million project. Itaims to upskill learners withinthe field of conservationmanagement and ecotourismthrough selected project sitesthroughout the country. Theproject will see 6 500 people inTransfrontier ConservationAreas and other projectsundergoing high qualitytraining. The target groupsinclude non-employedlearners, SMMEs, communityleadership, public authoritiesand start-up businesses.

• The Tourism LearnershipProject (TLP) is a R115 millioninitiative that generatesnational qualifications and unitstandards for all fields intourism, facilitates of on-the-job training, and develops andimplements learnerships forthe unemployed.

Its achievements include:

• Enrolment of 6 113unemployed learners of which1 885 have completed theirprogrammes;

• Registration of 3 029employed learners, of whom371 have graduated and 1 197are still enrolled;

• The SA Host programme,operating under the TLPbanner, has trained 12 546individuals in customer caresince December 2001.

SATI, was established in 2001 withfunds from the SpanishGovernment. Following a request

20

TOURISM

South Africa provides various affordable and comfortable transport options

by DEAT, this institute is housedwithin THETA, but is managed asa separate entity. It supplieslearning materials, supportsteachers and informs learners ofcareer opportunities within thetourism industry. The SATIResource Centre provides tourisminformation to school learners,educators, students, educationalinstitutions and industries linked totourism. As a result of theInstitute, 541 schools now offerTravel and Tourism as a subject,reaching about 56 000 learners.

CCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESS AAHHEEAADD

In the next decade of freedom, thetourism sector will be addressingthe following key challenges andpriorities:• Enhanced international and

domestic tourism marketing:The key deliverable will be toincrease the numbers ofdomestic and internationaltourists, increase their spend,ensure that they travel morewidely within the country, andto encourage them to travelthroughout the year. This willentail growing the marketingbudgets and ensuring theeffective use of these budgets.It will also require focused

interventions in improving airaccess, public transportationaccess, visa access as well asupgrading the country’stourism products and serviceplatform.

• Creating a transformed andcompetitive product platform:Key interventions in thisregard will include increasingthe effectiveness of the TEP,and rolling out the tourismSMME training programme.The tourism potential ofharbours and TFCAs will bemaximised. A programmefocused on addressing theproducts gaps identifiedthrough the GlobalCompetitiveness Study will beimplemented.

• Promote a sustainable globaldevelopment agenda: Theobjective is to promote

regional and continentaltourism growth through theeffective utilisation of ourmembership with the WTO,the Africa Travel Association(ATA), the Commonwealth andNEPAD. In this respecttourism agreements will besigned with key prioritymarkets and the tourismaction plan for NEPAD will beimplemented. RETOSA will betransformed into a strongerregional tourism organisation.

• Improving the tourism skillsplatform: Key activities willinclude improving theeffectiveness of THETA as thetourism sector’s training body.The tourist guiding sector willbe transformed, and theregistration process will bestreamlined. SATI will beresourced to participate moreeffectively as a partner intourism skills development.The service and skills gapsidentified through the GlobalCompetitiveness Study will beaddressed through focusedinterventions, including theabove.

21

Tourism Economy

South Africa is still in the process of setting up its Tourism Satellite Account. In 2002, the World Travel andTourism Council estimated the economic benefits of South Africa’s tourism industry as follows:

• In 2002, South Africa’s travel and tourism industry is thought to have generated R108.5 billion.

• The industry’s direct impact on the economy is estimated at 492 700 jobs, representing 3% of total

employment, and R31.1 billion of the Gross Domestic Product, equal to 3% of the GDP. However, the total

contribution of tourism (which has a multilpier effect on the economy) is calculated to be 1 148 000 jobs or

6.9% of total employment and R72.5 billion of GDP, equal to 7.1%.

• In addition, the tourism industry supports R43.8 billion in export services and merchandise, representing

12.5% of total exports as well as R17.1 billion of capital investment (10.3% of total investment).

• Government expenditure on tourism amounts to R920 million a year.