South Africa’s tourism industry is pinning its hopes on structural reforms embarked on by the Government of National Unity (GNU) to attract 15.6 million international arrivals by 2030.
Jerry Mabena, chairman of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA), yesterday said the appointment of the GNU had seen an improvement in business confidence, even stretching beyond South Africa’s borders.
South Africans were looking to the new government to solve critical issues such as unemployment, the cost-of-living crisis and slow economic growth.
“We, on the other hand, need to demonstrate how our sector is positioning itself to address these very same challenges. Indeed, we say tourism matters for the economy; it matters to the many industries that benefit from a thriving tourism industry,” Mabena said.
“As we all know, we have a vision of growing our international arrivals to 15 million over the next couple of years. We are moving in the right direction toward achieving this goal. Data from Stats SA shows that last year, we welcomed over eight million international guests into our country.
“Destination marketing is an obvious solution for this target. We led the way in marketing South Africa through our ‘Trevor Noah for South Africa’ video. Some of the other key factors which will help us welcome more travellers include the ease with which visa processes are handled, visa waivers and air access.”
Mabena was speaking at the opening of the 3rd TBCSA Leadership Conference in Sun City, under the theme “Tourism Matters”.
According to recent economic data, the GNU has improved business confidence in a number of sectors, including retail, manufacturing, financial services and others.
Sentiments about demand for business and leisure travel rebounding under GNU were also shared by leisure group Southern Sun on Tuesday.
It said corporate and leisure travel demand has rebounded since the May 29 elections and the subsequent establishment of the GNU, although government activity was still lagging.
The group is also banking on recent announcements by the Department of Home Affairs regarding simplification of South Africa’s work and remote working visa processes, saying this was an “encouraging development” for the local tourism industry.
Earlier this month, the Airports Company of South Africa said it anticipated passenger travel through airports to return to 2019 levels in the current fiscal year, with aircraft landings recovering to 92% of 2019 levels, up from 85% in 2023, while domestic and regional recovery reached 94% and 99% of pre-pandemic levels, respectively.
Deputy Tourism Minister Maggie Sotyu said it was a notable achievement that South Africa was on its way to achieve its collective target of equalling 2019 levels of international arrivals by 2024, and must build on this to achieve the revised target of 15.1m tourists by 2030.
Sotyu said her department acknowledged the significant progress made by the Department of Home Affairs in making entry into South Africa easier for visitors.
Today, passport holders from 132 countries with which South Africa has diplomatic ties enjoyed a visa waiver, placing South Africa among the leaders in this category.
However, Sotyu said more was required and the Department of Tourism, with the support of the industry, had embarked on policy advocacy around making travel easier, especially for the Chinese and Indian markets.
“It included an outreach to the Chinese travel trade late last year, Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille’s engagements with the Chinese ambassador this year, and the presidency’s Operation Vulindlela programme technical support,” Sotyu said.
“We also acknowledge the implementation of e-visas for these markets, including the roll-out to 36 countries. However, technological enhancements will provide further improvements.
“We look forward to further resolution of turnaround times and systematic delays. The department appreciates the DHA’s latest announcements to look into the issue of Chinese and Indian visas, automation, the exploration of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, and exploring group applications.”
Yusuf Simon, Western Cape provincial manager at the Department of Home Affairs, said regulations will be signed soon, opening applications for remote work visas, boosting tourism and investment.
BUSINESS REPORT