Africans told to pursue joint tourism strategies

……..as middle-class swells to 300m
 

The African Union Commission says the continent needs to pursue joint marketing strategies to accelerate growth in tourism as its middle-class swells.

 “We now have a middle-class on the continent of above 300 million people; and we must ensure that as their ranks swell and more Africans have disposable income for holidays, they also spend it on the continent.

“We cannot achieve successful results if we continue to work in isolation as individual countries. We need to focus on joint marketing of our tourism attractions across the borders,” Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma told the gathering at the Tourism Indaba 2014, held in Durban South Africa to showcase tourism potentials of the region.

She said: “We say Africa is open for tourism, we need to know where to direct our marketing efforts and which particular aspects of our tourism facilities and services are in need of improvement to cater for the targetted markets”.

She observed that tourists are not interested in Africa’s administrative borders: “They want to explore as many attractions as possible given the limited resources and time at their disposal.

“We also need to further develop the infrastructure for tourism -- from hotels, lodges, bed and breakfast and restaurants to transport, information communications technology, energy, water and sanitation.

“Tourists want perfect landscapes and reserves -- but they also want reliable energy, access to wi-fi hotspots and other forms of modern infrastructure.”

 She proposed for a simplified joint visa regimes, a uni-visa -- that can quickly be made available electronically and enable tourists to move around groups of African countries easily and more affordably.

Over the past decade Africa has been one of the fastest-growing tourism regions in the world, but the continent still lags behind the other regions -- accounting for less than five percent of total global arrivals.

South African Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk explained that Africa’s key priorities are to move even faster to liberalise air policies and create an intra-continental air transport architecture that facilitates intra-African travel and trade.

“We must remove travel barriers such as cumbersome paper visas by switching to e-passports and e-visas, as well as visa waiver and regional visa schemes.

“Airfares in Africa are almost 50 percent higher than those outside the continent, which contributes to a price/value mismatch.

“We cannot price ourselves out of the global market, there are too many other accessible destinations that compete with us.

“We have to get to the bottom of the often non-transparent pricing factors such as taxes and monopoly behaviour, which drive up the cost of air passenger travel.

 “It is possible to create 3.8 million direct and indirect jobs through travel and tourism in less than a decade -- but for that to happen, we need to fix what is broken,” said Van Schalkwyk.

Secretary-General of the United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO) Taleb Rifai indicated that the need for better coordination between tourism and air transport policies is imperative, to fully explore the tourism sector’s capacity to deliver on growth and development on the African continent.

Over the past decade, international tourist arrivals to Africa have repeatedly outgrown results in other regions.

By 2030, Africa’s international tourist numbers could grow from its current 56 million to 134 million, as a rising number of African countries have embraced tourism as a priority for their development.

 “Tourism accounts for seven percent of all exports in Africa and 58 percent of its service exports, and is one of the most important sectors for the continent’s economies,” said Rifai.

 “Yet, to fully realise the potential tourism has in promoting growth and development in Africa, it is  imperative to work toward a better alignment of  tourism and air transport policies in the region,” he added.

The lack of consideration for tourism benefits and coordination between the tourism and aviation sectors, producing sub-optimal air transport and tourism policies, infrastructure limitation, unsuitable taxation and restrictive visa policies, were identified as the main factors hampering the development of both tourism and air transport in Africa.

2014 Toursim Indaba

Mr. Van Schalkwyk, opening this year’s tourism ceremony, said: “In the life of a nation, 20 years are but a few steps on a much longer journey.

“However, when those 20 years mark the birth and growth of a new democracy, they are immensely important as they determine the direction that nation takes.

 “As we meet here as Africans, we recognise that we have to resolve outstanding challenges in travel facilitation. I am convinced that 20 years from now history books telling the story of tourism on our continent will describe how a modernised and truly pan-African Indaba has been one of those pivots that helped us to take tourism to the next level on our continent. 

“This year, we have 24 African countries exhibiting at Indaba,” said Van Schalkwyk. 

Highlighting the role that a pan-African Indaba will play in driving Africa’s tourism sector forward, Van Schalkwyk emphasised how far the industry has come by stressing on the tourism infrastructure that has been developed, the strategies that have been put in place, and the structures and platforms which have been set up in the last 20 years to grow and develop tourism in South Africa. 

 “By 1994, 20 years ago, total international arrivals -- including tourist arrivals -- stood at a mere 3.6 million.

“During our two decades of democracy, these arrivals have grown by more than 300% to reach nearly 15 million last year -- 9.6 million of which were tourist arrivals. The story of 20 years of tourism since 1994 is a remarkable one indeed.”

Outlining some apartheid’s grim realities, he said: “Let us just imagine, for a moment, what the 20 years before 1994 looked like.

“Just imagine the effect that the passbook system -- an internal passport control system of sorts -- had on freedom of movement.

“On top of that we had a Separate Amenities Act, which regulated the use of public as well as private amenities by the color of your skin and limited access to most tourism facilities to one racial group only. Just imagine, apart from all the other inhibiting factors, how difficult it was for a tourism industry to operate in those circumstances.

“Since 1994, South African Tourism has been transformed from a country-promotion and publicity organisation into a dynamic global destination-marketing organisation.”

“The South African Tourism board consists of respected leaders from the private sector, who work in partnership with government to ensure coordinated and effective implementation of our plans and strategies, underpinned by cutting-edge strategic research.

“From a budget of R81 million in 1994, national government today invests in excess of R1.6 billion in tourism every year, and provinces and municipalities millions more.

“Prior to 1994, tourism was a line function with a director and one administrative clerk at a desk in the Department of Trade and Industry.

“Today, we have a new Constitution with concurrent powers for tourism development and promotion across all provinces; a full-fledged Ministry and Department of Tourism that provides policy direction; a 2014 Tourism Act that elevates our legislative mandate to a level appropriate for the demands of the 21st century, and recognition of tourism as one of six core economic drivers in the country's New Growth Path.

“The tourism sector was also the first in the country to have its own Black Economic Empowerment Charter and Scorecard formally gazetted.

“And South Africa was one of the first countries to entrench the concept of responsible tourism in its policy framework.

“As a destination, we have evolved from offering exclusive safari holidays to the international traveling elite to one of the most sought-after global destinations offering a diverse variety of unforgettable experiences including leisure, business and events to domestic, regional and long-haul markets.”

As a country emerging from an era of isolation, South Africa joined the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in 1994, he stated.

“Today, we can proudly look back on having hosted some of the biggest tourism mega-events in the world, all of which have contributed to redefining our country's image, building social cohesion and creating new economic opportunities.”

Touching on the FIFA Soccer World Cup hosted in South Africa, he said: “Three years after the FIFA Soccer World Cup, we are still growing from strength to strength. The 9.6 million international tourist arrivals to our country recorded last year were the highest in our history.

 According to the latest tourism satellite account data, in 2012 our sector directly accounted for R93 billion, or 3%, of GDP -- up from an estimated R9 billion, or 1.7%, of GDP in 1994.

“When we add domestic tourism expenditure to the mix, internal tourism expenditure amounted to R191 billion in 2012. And where direct jobs in our sector stood at an estimated 230 000, or 1.9%, of the total in 1994, tourism today accounts for over 610 000, or 4.6%, of direct employment in the country.”

Looking to the next 20 years of tourism, it was hard to envisage how technology would evolve, or how consumer preferences would change.

“Many challenges remain, not least those of transformation and accelerated job-creation. It is safe to say that we are entering the next 20 years of democracy and freedom confident that the tourism economy's fundamentals are in place -- knowing that we are hedged against shifting markets through a balanced portfolio of domestic, regional and overseas long-haul arrivals from both mature and emerging economies, and a diversified, authentic supply side that continues to differentiate us in the global market place.

“And we are embracing the opportunities brought about by the mobile and social media revolution to customise value-for-money offerings to consumers.

“From the side of the tourism industry, our message is a resounding one -- what an exhilarating 20 years it has been!” said Van Schalkwyk.

South African Tourism Chief Executive Officer Thulani Nzima said myths around the destination abound, and visitors to South Africa continue to be amazed by what the country has to offer.

“The latest addition to South African Tourism’s Meet South Africa campaign, Reconsider South Africa, cuts straight to heart of this.

 “It challenges those myths and negates them with powerful endorsements from real people who came to South Africa as sceptics but left in love with our people, beauty, infrastructure and hospitality,” said Nzima before sharing the Reconsider South Africa advert with the audience. 

In the two decades of freedom, South Africa’s people and the heartfelt connections they inspire have emerged as South Africa’s stand-out attribute, and are the central focus of South African Tourism’s present global campaign, Meet South Africa.

“By now, every South African is aware that we are celebrating 20 years of democracy and freedom this year.

“Millions of South Africans are participating in one way or another to celebrate our achievements,” remarked Nzima.