SA Tourism 'should set sights even higher'
October 29, 2009
The tourism industry set its sights too low and should aim at luring 20 million foreign tourists a year by 2020, Michael Tatalias, the head of the SA Tourism Services Association umbrella body, said yesterday.
Its present target is 10 million by next year.
Tatalias said that a gold award received by SA Tourism at the inaugural public service awards for brand leadership this week in Johannesburg was well deserved.
Tourism to this country had grown in the past 14 years from 3 million a year to 9 million this year. It had been helped by hard work by SA Tourism in publicising South Africa overseas, while handicapped by a lower budget than foreign competitors. "And a budget in rands does not go very far," he added.
South Africa was also handicapped by its distance from its main source markets in the UK, Europe and North America and by limited air access, he said.
The government had restricted incoming flights by foreign airlines when tourism had been booming worldwide. Although this mistake was being corrected and air access was "coming right", it was happening at a time when the recession had caused global passenger numbers to drop.
The tourism industry was now lobbying the government to think ahead to 2020. The minister of tourism had set a target of 10 million visitors by next year, but the industry should be building itself up to cater for 20 million visitors a year by 2020.
The public service awards, for mandate delivery, best practice, transparency and efficacy in the public sector, were presented by Avusa media, with the Brand Leadership Academy and TNS Research Services.
Thebe Ikalafeng, the founder of the Brand Leadership Academy, said successful state-owned agencies such as SA Tourism were "learning from the best of the private sector (the need for) efficacy, accountability and delivery."
Didi Moyle, the acting chief executive at SA Tourism, said: "Our destination brand has grown through careful planning, precise campaign delivery and understanding both the leisure travel needs of our key markets and the business challenges and aspirations of (our) tourism industry.
"This work has unfolded over many years, it has relied on partnerships with many people and organisations."
Moyle said: "We need to take this work forward in the next year to ensure our brand's vitality and the growth of our industry in the years after 2010."
Improvements in air access include the launch of direct flights to Johannesburg from Melbourne by Virgin Australia, due in March, additional flights by British Airways to Cape Town and Johannesburg, new flights to Cape Town and Durban by Emirates Airline and a new daily service from Abu Dhabi to Cape Town by Etihad.
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