Pretoria – A panel of experts appointed to review how SA Tourism is responding to the dynamics of the national and international tourism sector has made several recommendations that will strengthen the entity’s institutional capacity and guide its future strategic direction.
Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said on Friday he will engage the SA Tourism Board on the process for implementing the recommendations aimed at enhancing SA Tourism’s initiatives to market South Africa as a prime tourist destination.
“The panel’s recommendations will help the country to grow its competitive edge in the global tourism marketplace, and will also promote domestic tourism,” said the Minister.
He was satisfied that the review panel, which included tourism, governance and marketing experts, had achieved its objectives and fulfilled its mandate.
The Minister thanked the board, management and staff of SA Tourism for embracing and participating in the review process. He further thanked the review panel headed by Valli Moosa for identifying matters for consideration in moving the organisation forward.
Among the recommendations are a call for greater collaboration between the private sector and SA Tourism to increase South Africa’s global tourism market share and the need to innovate and revitalise SA Tourism’s marketing campaigns to keep pace with a fast-changing marketplace.
The panel proposed collaboration with Brand SA to collectively promote the country and a greater focus on domestic tourism.
Minister Hanekom said a fully optimised SA Tourism was essential for the transformation and sustainable growth of the sector, and for tourism to achieve the National Development Goal target of creating 225 000 jobs by 2020.
“It is critical that the tourism sector maintains and grows its global competitiveness, enabling tourism to continue making its overall contribution of 9.5% of the country’s GDP and supporting 10% of total employment.
“I am confident that the expert advice provided by the panel will help us to make the correct strategic decisions as we market our remarkable country to the world and provide our visitors with memorable experiences,” he said.
A full report of the review panel is available at: http://www.tourism.gov.za/AboutNDT/Publications/ - SAnews.gov.za
