SA 'needs new airport to become Africa hub'

President of the International Council of Tourism Partners, Professor Geoffrey Lipman said that four jobs are lost for every one created or saved by protecting the national carrier.

SA needed to create a globally significant airport to be the hub and gateway to Africa, said Prof Lipman, speaking at the inaugural South African travel and tourism conference in Johannesburg. "If you don't do it, someone else will. The Chinese will build it for them.

You have to engage your African colleagues, the market potential for Africa is phenomenal."

The 2010-11 World Economic Forum Global Competitive Report ranks SA 54th out of 139 - the highest ranked country in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there were many areas in which SA was not winning, said Prof Lipman.

SA had much ground to make up in the human resource development category as well as the health, hygiene and safety and security component to improve its competitiveness score.

Good air links are vital

Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said his department was working with the Department of Transport to review its 2006 airlift strategy due to be taken back to Cabinet soon. "Specific focus should be placed on creating space for the new model of low-cost airlines and advancing competition in the skies. As a long-haul destination, we are heavily dependent on airlift capacity."

While 76% of SA's tourism was generated domestically last year, contributing R20.3bn to the economy, regional African visitors to SA also contributed substantially, Thulani Nzima, CEO of South African Tourism said.

Nzima said visitors from the continent spent more in SA than travellers from Europe. "The average spend per trip of African visitors is R13 000, compared to R10 000 from European visitors."

Martin Wiest, CEO of Tourvest Destination Management Services, said African tourists were "as valuable if not more valuable" than others, as African travellers were more likely to purchase South African goods to take home than Europeans were.

Nzima said South African Tourism had been allocated R218m over the next three years to invest in the regional market.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge