The recent increase in crime targeted at tourists to South Africa, the reaction and plans moving forward, were the topics of this month’s regular SA Tourism webinar.

Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, Spokesperson for the South African Police Service, reported back that the police had been active in implementing plans for better protection of tourists from OR Tambo, and were rolling these out to other key ports of entry into South Africa. Already these are paying dividends with the arrests of a number of people.

Tebogo Umanah of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, discussed the Tourism Safety Initiative, which aims to offer a better understanding crime affecting tourism, alerting stakeholders to issues and providing a forum to discuss and solve crime issues that arise. 

CEO of SA Tourism, Sisa Ntshona, said the crime issue was being discussed in a number of forums and the protection of tourists to South Africa was an absolute priority to ensure protection of tourists, a strong brand South Africa and that tourist numbers were not negatively affected.

To listen to the full webinar, click here. 

Click here to see more on the TSI -- www.tourismsafety.co.za.