S A Government takes zero measures as tourism numbers continue to plunge

Friday, October 25, 2019

The recent data published by StatsSA this week verifies the continuing downward trend in terms of tourism in South Africa.  The data is performance-based and records information from January to August 2019s.  The statistics verifies that fewer international tourists are visiting the coastlines of Southern Africa, be it from other African countries or other parts of the world.

DA Shadow Minister of Tourism for South Africa, Manny de Freitas MP, had this to say:
“Countries specifically targeted by TourismSA have shown a dramatic decrease in tourists to our country. This includes China, which has shown a decrease in tourists to South Africa by over 10%. This is equal to the same decrease in Chinese tourists recorded in 2018.

German tourists have traditionally contributed high numbers of visitors to our shores, but those have decreased by 6.5%.  Tourists from other African countries have also decreased cumulatively by 1.4%.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will bring this issue in the Portfolio Committee of the Parliament on Tourism and will be urging the Committee Chairperson to summon Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, to give details on what exactly her Department is doing to change these statistics.  The DA will also table this issue in the National Assembly.

It is quite obvious that Government is doing slight things to change the image of South Africa abroad.  If anything small has been done so far to deal with the perception that South Africans are xenophobic and that the country is not a safe place to visit.

In spite of the Department of Tourism and TourismSA accepting the fact that crime is the biggest obstruction toward the growth if tourism, little appears to be done to make sure that all relevant departments work jointly to resolve this issue.  Also, country’s onerous visa requirements hold back travelers from choosing South Africa as their destination of choice.  These obstructions to growing tourism can be proactively dismantled, yet Minister Kubayi-Ngubane and her department appear to be sitting on their hands instead.

The Tourism industry accounts for 9.2% of all employed South Africans and is a great creator of jobs. Nonetheless, these trends have the possibility to alter this and consequently have a negative impact on our economy. National Government needs to address these concerns urgently and with immediacy.

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