As we celebrate Tourism Month during September, Tourism Update is examining the industry in South Africa across a series of articles with insight from industry experts. To begin with, we take a look at that state of tourism in South Africa, and where it’s heading.

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.”