15/04/2005: Addressing
the Annual General Meeting of the Tourism
Business Council of South Africa on Friday,
Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism said: “We pledged that
the 2010 Soccer World Cup will be an African
event, staged in our country. One of the most
important channels to ensure that our whole
region benefits from the event is the expansion
and upgrading of our transfrontier parks (TFCA)
– and for this we need investment. Not because
of sentiment or a sense of responsibility
alone, but because investing in Southern African
tourism makes great business sense.”
Building on a theme raised in his National
Assembly Budget Speech last week the Minister
pointed to a recent study by the Peace Parks
Foundation that analysed the SADC region.
“This study found that our region could support
as many as 22 Peace Parks in 14 clusters,”
said the Minister. “The carrying-capacity
of our Southern African parks is estimated
to be as high as 7 million annual visitors
– in contrast to the roughly 2 million that
visit our parks at present. The potential
is staggering. With the right marketing mix,
combined with the global exposure of the world's
largest sporting event, we may well need as
many as 15 000 additional beds in regional
parks,or up to four times the current accommodation
capacity of the Kruger Park , to meet the
potential demand.”
“From the side of the South African Government
we will, over the next three years, be investing
another R193 million in our TFCA's – creating
visitor centres, upgrading access routes,
building camps and improving tourism infrastructure,”
said the Minister. “What we need from the
private sector is an equally firm commitment
to invest, aiming for 2010 and beyond. The
best possible Southern African experience
is the experience of our parks – from mountains
to deserts, snows to savannahs, this is the
heart of our tourism potential.”
Speaking about plans to attract international
investors the Minister added: “We will, later
this year, be launching a major international
investment drive around the commercial opportunities
in the Southern African TFCA, with targeted
initiatives in markets like the USA and Europe
. Our focus however, must be on Southern African
investors. We cannot afford to let these massive
opportunities slip away. To give just one
example – we will be opening the new Giriyondo
Border Post in August this year to allow the
flow of visitors between the Kruger National
Park and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique
.There will be two major Giriyondo concessions
to be awarded – and the opportunities for
private investors will be immense.”
Originating in Africa , the transfrontier
conservation initiative has been spearheaded
by the SADC region. Globally there are now
169 such areas involving 113 countries and
667 protected areas. “Conservation knows no
national boundaries,” said the Minister. “Tourism
and investment in tourism needs to follow
the same approach.”
