Boost tourism trade by inter-governmental relations

TBCSA's CEO, Mmatšatši Ramawela said the trade welcomed the SONA's consistent feature of the travel and tourism industry, saying this sends a strong message about Government's regard for the industry. "We welcome the Presidents' consistent profiling of travel and tourism in his speeches. To us it's a demonstration of the increased coverage and attention the industry is receiving within Government".

Ramawela emphasised the need for Government to create a conducive environment for the trade, highlighting the need to improve inter-governmental relations as one of the main challenges which the TBCSA has identified.

"Recent pronouncements on immigration regulations without broad consultation with the travel and tourism trade as a parter of Government constitutes an unfortunate disconnect between the public and private sector. The harm already done in terms of forward bookings and tourist perceptions about the destination is unfortunate and we fear that it may take some time to repair" she said.

Commenting on the SONA's remarks about increasing foreign visitor arrivals to more than 15 million annually by 2017 and increasing tourism's contribution to the country's revenue, Ramawela said that the President's ambition of achieving double-digit growth in tourist arrivals was achievable but could only be reached if there was greater cohesion in inter-governmental strategy and support given to the travel and tourism trade.

Marc Corcoran, president of the South African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (SAVRALA) said: "SAVRALA welcomes the recognition by President Zuma of Tourism's potential to assist growth in the South African economy. "We look forward to work with Minister Hanekom to ensure that appropriate government policy and resources place tourism higher on the agenda to ensure that the R125bn revenue target is achieved. We are, however, concerned that the President failed to address the lack of progress to attain the Decade of Action 2020 road safety targets which should by now have seen a turnaround in the annual road carnage which continues to claim over 14,000 South African lives annually".

Ramawela said sentiments expressed by SAVRALA on transport matters are similar to the frustrations experienced by other sectors within travel and tourism, whose work is directly impacted by legislation and policy decisions made elsewhere in the realm of Government.

"In the President's words, change will not come without some far-reaching interventions. We believe one of the interventions should be improvement in inter-governmental and business relations at a local, provincial and national level. Create the right climate, and then the investment and job creation will follow" Ramawela concluded.