20 August 2007 – Speech
- Speech by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, During
a Special Dinner to Celebrate Women’s Month
and Saluting Women in Tourism, Mthatha,
Eastern Cape on Monday 20 August 2007
MEC for Economic Development and Environmental
Affairs, Mbulelo Sogoni,
Mayor of the OR Tambo District Municipality,
Mayor Capa,
Mayor of the KSD Municipality, Mayor Ngcobo,
Director General of DEAT, Pam Yako,
CEO of SA Tourism, Moeketsi Mosola,
CEO of the Eastern Cape Tourism Board, Adv
Naledi Burwana-Bisiwe,
Distinguished guest,
Ladies and gentlemen
INTRODUCTION
The 2007 theme for International Tourism
Day is “Tourism opens doors for women”.
This is the inspiration for our gathering
this evening as we celebrate Women’s Month
and salute women in tourism on the eve of
National Tourism Month. The empowerment
of women has been at the forefront of our
national liberation struggle. During National
Women’s Month, we remember the integral
role that women played in the struggle to
rid our country of the injustices of the
past, and we celebrate the role that they
continue to play in the entrenchment of
democracy in our society today.
WOMEN RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
In terms of women’s representation and
participation in political life, our country
is a leading light - not only on our continent,
but in the world. Similarly, at other levels
of government, in business, in civil society
and in households throughout our land, outstanding
women continue to prove their equal worth
in society. Women in tourism are no exception.
This evening, and for the duration of National
Tourism Month, we focus on the role of women
in the vibrant and growing tourism industry.
As government, we have prioritized this
industry within ASGISA in recognition of
its enormous potential to create jobs and
alleviate poverty. As a business, tourism
has grown in leaps and bounds, as evidenced
by our ever-increasing tourism arrivals
figures. The industry has also become fiercely
competitive, placing increased pressure
on all who participate in it to conform
to the highest standards of excellence.
Our department has recently devised a tourism
second economy strategy, which makes provision
for assisting the poorest of the poor in
our country - many of whom constitute women-headed
households. This will be done through business
hubs in 21 presidential nodes throughout
the country. A key focus of this strategy
is to overcome the critical barrier of limited
market access. We aim to facilitate the
mainstreaming of second economy tourism
products.
Our Tourism Ambassador Programme, aimed
at gearing the industry for 2010, makes
provision for women to receive training,
and, as far as possible, creates opportunities
for them to serve at various events of international
significance. Women are also targeted beneficiaries
of our tourist guide training and foreign
language programmes, where they can be sent
abroad for mid-career training in countries
such as India, China, the United Arab Emirates,
and the Netherlands.
Through our social responsibility programmes,
we have created 7511 job opportunities for
women in tourism related projects over the
past three years. Through the Tourism Enterprise
Programme (TEP), in partnership with the
Department of Trade and Industry, we have
assisted women in craft through the One
of a Kind trade show held in Gauteng earlier
this month. The show provided an enabling
and supportive environment for craft producers
to grow and develop their businesses. The
show was informed by a sustainable development
approach - encouraging and facilitating
transactions between small, medium and micro
enterprises (SMMEs) and corporate business.
In total, through our Tourism Enterprise
Programme, 918 women-owned businesses have
received assistance, and 1 296 women have
benefited from training courses.
WOMEN LEADERS IN TOURISM
We are privileged to have outstanding women
leaders in tourism - a few of whom I would
like to mention. Starting with our own Department
Of Environmental Affairs And Tourism, we
have a cadre of formidable women, led by
our Deputy Minister, Rejoice Mabudhafasi,
our Director General, Pamela Yako, our Chief
Operating Officer, Nosipho Jezile, and a
number of senior managers. We also have
women at the helm of our statutory bodies,
in the form of Thembi Kunene, at the Tourism
Grading Council of South Africa, Matshatshi
Marobe at the Tourism Business Council and
Didi Moyle at South African Tourism. In
the private sector, the business acumen
of Monhla Hlahla, has seen the Airports
Company of South Africa reach new heights
of achievement.
The success enjoyed by these women is the
fruit of hard work and dedication, which
is mirrored at all levels of the industry.
Our 2002 ETEYA (Emerging Tourism Entrepreneur
of the Year Award) winner was Sarah Ntombana
Mahlangu, who was given the award in recognition
of her ambitious job creation scheme, appropriately
named Something Out of Nothing. The scheme
was started in 1999 and has not only empowered
its creator, but has uplifted an entire
community. This is just one example of how
tourism has enabled women empowerment, entrepreneurship
and job creation even in remote areas.
But right here in Mthatha, we have the
shining example of Ms Lindelwa Lumka (Pinky)
Somhlahlo, who was the provincial finalist
in last year’s ETEYA awards. In addition
to expanding her business from one bed and
breakfast establishment to three, she has
also branched out into the business of catering.
It is this type of success story that we
hope will inspire more women to participate
in this industry.
While we ramp up our efforts to lower the
barriers to entry in the tourism industry,
we need to consider equally the importance
of sustainability - not only for businesses
but also for the communities that they are
situated in. In particular, we need to ensure
that tourism fulfils its potential to help
rural communities to sustain themselves.
Once more, I am proud to be able to cite
an example from the Eastern Cape. Bulungula
Lodge, just an hour away from where we are
this evening, and run by yet another successful
woman in tourism, has been awarded the Fair
Trade in Tourism trademark.
CONCLUSION
As government, we also have to remain mindful
of our role in continuing to assist and
enable the empowerment of women in tourism.
The baseline study conducted by the Tourism
Black Economic Empowerment Charter Council
reveals that women are under-represented
at senior management and board level in
the industry. This highlights the continuing
need for ensuring that government interventions
benefit women in tourism.
This evening I have spoken of many successful
women in tourism. It is important that we
celebrate their achievements as part and
parcel of the greater success of our economy
and our nation in uplifting and improving
the quality of life of all our people. We
need to find new and innovative ways to
overcome the challenges that lie ahead of
us - amongst the biggest of which is training
and skills development. I hope that you
will be inspired by how far we have come
in such a short time, and armed with that
inspiration, I have no doubt that you will
overcome these challenges. Malibongwe!
+ More
STATEMENT BY THE OFFICE OF MARTHINUS VAN
SCHALKWYK, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
AND TOURISM DURING THE TOURISM MONTH MEDIA
LAUNCH AT THE NELSON MANDELA MUSEUM, QUNU,
EASTERN CAPE ON TUESDAY 21 AUGUST 2007
TOURISM MONTH LAUNCHED WITH EXCITING FOREIGN
TOURIST ARRIVALS FOR THE FIRST 5 MONTHS
Tourism Month is an annual celebration
held in September to focus on the importance
of tourism to the economy of South Africa.
“During tourism month we showcase the unique
and diverse tourism experiences offered
by the country’s nine provinces” said Minister
van Schalkwyk.
The launch of Tourism Month took place
on Tuesday 21 August 2007 at the Nelson
Mandela Museum in Qunu, Eastern Cape. Countries
around the world will celebrate World Tourism
Day (WTD) on 27 September. The worldwide
theme for 2007 is “Tourism opens doors for
women”.
The Minister said that “Tourism has become
a fiercely competitive business, especially
with women having a particularly important
role to play in the development of tourism
and being part of the country’s economic
mainstream. Our message for tourism month
is to embrace participation of women as
they bring a unique voice to the industry
by showcasing their businesses and innovation.
It will be important to focus on a number
of issues when we reflect on the month that
lies ahead.
Firstly, our Tourism Month celebrations
have received and early boost with exciting
foreign arrivals in the first 5 months of
2007.”
Foreign arrivals statistics for the period
January to May 2007
The Minister announced that “South Africa
is following the global trend with a rise
in travel and tourism to our country. Overall
foreign arrivals grew by 10% from January
to May 2007.
The positive trend in foreign arrivals
is reflected in arrivals from air markets,
which increased by 4.4% during the first
five months of 2007 compared to the same
period in 2006 and across all the regions
in which South African Tourism markets.
According to statistics released by StatsSA,
2007 saw the highest number of recorded
arrivals for the first five months of a
year since 1998.
In markets where SA Tourism focuses its
marketing efforts:
The growth in Africa air markets was led
by healthy increases out of Nigeria at 22.5%
and Kenya at just over 12%.
Arrivals from the Americas have shown consistent
annual growth since 2002, with nearly 7000
more visitors arriving from the United States
bringing the total figure to 141 674 for
region which includes Canada and Brazil.
This represents an increase of 5% over the
same period in 2006.
Arrivals out of Europe are up 1.8% for
the year to date driven largely the significant
increase of 11.5% out of France. We believe
that this is due to the turnaround strategy
implemented in this market.
Although, air capacity issues may constrain
growth going forward.
There was a loss of over 4% in arrivals
out of Germany as a result of market-specific
economic activity. The German government
increased VAT by 3%, which has affected
German travel purchase behaviour but the
economy is expected to normalise in the
second half of the year.
Growth out of Asia and Australasia was
led by growth in two key markets, those
being India at 10.3% and Australia at 6.8%.
We continued to see a decline in China while
Japan increased by 3.3%.
The increase in arrivals from across all
the regions of the world - and in particular
air markets - reflects not only the growing
awareness of South Africa as a tourism destination
but also the success of the airlift strategy
passed by Cabinet last year that resulted
in increased access to the South African
market for foreign carriers.”
Secondly, international tourists are important
but local tourists are just as important
and therefore we need nurture our domestic
market.
2006 DOMESTIC STATISTICS
“Domestic travel increased by 2,7% in 2006
as 37 million domestic trips were undertaken.
About 42% of the South African adult population
travelled (i.e. 12 million domestic tourists),
which means that fewer South Africans travelled
more (i.e. took on average 3.1 domestic
trips in 2006). This was down from 14 million
people who took a domestic trip in 2005,”
the Minister reflected.
Approximately 29 million trips were taken
for the purpose of visiting friends and
relatives, while holiday travel accounted
for 7% at 2.8 million and business travel
was at 5% with 1.9 million trips being undertaken.
The major beneficiaries of domestic tourism
in 2006 were KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng,
with both provinces being the source and
destination of the majority of domestic
trips.
One of the challenges in growing the domestic
market is making it a lifestyle choice so
that it is not just driven by the purpose
of visiting friends or family.
Thirdly, what is the contribution of this
sector to job creation in our country?
JOB CREATION
Last year, South Africa received nearly
8.4 million tourists. Tourism’s contribution
to job creation in 2006 amounted to 947
530 jobs. This was an increase of 9.6% over
2005.
It is also easy to see why the tourism
industry has been given such high priority
in terms of ASGISA’s plan to reduce poverty
and unemployment, and to raise the level
of economic growth. Tourism’s estimated
contribution to GDP increased from 4,6%
in 1993 to 8,3% in 2006. However, we are
ambitious and would like to see the GDP
contribution of tourism rise to 12% by 2014.
We are confident that we can build on the
achievements of a solid partnership between
government, the statutory bodies and the
tourism industry.
The Minister said that “the jobs and business
opportunities created in tourism have special
significance for economies such as ours.
They help to spread opportunities beyond
our major metropolitan areas to provinces
like the Eastern Cape where we are today.
They create incentives - not only to remain
in rural areas, but also to develop, take
pride in, and showcase local hospitality
and culture. We see evidence of this in
the entrepreneurs from all nine provinces
that will be receiving ETEYA awards at World
Tourism Day on September 27th.”
Fourthly, there is a need to ensure that
everyone benefits from the growth of tourism
in our country.
TOURISM AND BEE
“We are working hard to convince the industry
that it should see transformation from the
responsible tourism point of view. Internationally,
tourists are more inclined to choose a destination
that encourages participation by local people
and that ensures that the benefits are shared
equitably. Transformation should not only
be seen as a political imperative. It should
also be seen as a process aimed at providing
tourists with an integrated South African
experience, which can only be attained if
significant numbers of black people participate
meaningfully.
We are putting in place interventions that
are aimed at ensuring industry complies
with the Tourism BEE Charter, thus enabling
beneficiaries to benefit from the enabling
environment created by the Charter. The
interventions are also intended to assist
the public sector and organs of state to
use their procurement and regulatory powers
to influence change,” the Minister said.
There has been progress with regard to
BEE when it comes to large enterprises,
both listed and unlisted. According to the
outcomes of the baseline study undertaken
by the Tourism BEE Charter Council in 2006,
large enterprises exceeded targets for 2006.
However, there were huge challenges when
it came to small and medium sized enterprises,
which make up more than 90% of the sector.
The small and medium sized enterprises have
not done well in implementing the seven
elements of the Charter. I must mention
that though there was overall progress among
larger players, there were some challenges
related to ownership and strategic management,
mainly in the area of appointing skilled
black women to executive management positions.
We have also consulted extensively with
the industry on how best we can align the
Tourism Charter to the Codes of Good Practice.
One unique feature that we are proposing
in the sector codes is that it should be
mandatory for QSE (Qualifying Small Enterprises)
to include at least one of the human development
element indicators to demonstrate their
commitment to investing in people and, therefore
service. Our competitiveness as a sector
is defined by how the service is delivered.
If we encourage more players to invest in
human resources development, we can achieve
excellence and we can also fast track black
participation and advancement in the sector.
The Tourism BEE Council is also urging
industry to know their BEE status by using
the self-assessment tool, which is available
for free. Beneficiaries are encouraged to
take advantage of programmes that are being
put in place by the Tourism BEE Charter
Council such as the Black Talent Project,
Matchmaking Database, funding and advisory
options, enterprise development case studies
and database of empowered businesses.
Fifthly, addressing skills will be crucial
to meet our targets in terms of ASGISA.
TOURISM SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
“The solution lies in acknowledging the
problem, understanding where it comes from
and putting programmes in place to resolve
it. The Deputy President took the lead,
at a national level, by setting up the Joint
Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition
(JIPSA), which features commitment and involvement
by private and public sector partners.
Similarly, we have adopted a partnership
approach in the tourism sector. In partnership
with the Tourism, Hospitality and Sport
Education and Training Authority as well
as the National Business Initiative, our
Department conducted a skills audit from
February to April this year.
Most respondents viewed the South African
tourism industry as having made major strides
in the last ten years in terms of marketing
and the development of globally competitive
tourism attractions, but the concomitant
skills and service ethic required to deliver
on the marketing promise are seen as largely
absent. In particular, the poor quality
of skills and training and as a result,
poor service in the South African tourism
industry was articulated.
The limited availability of qualified and
experienced black management (all sub-sectors
except Gaming and Lotteries) and to a lesser
extent, the ability of South Africans to
deal with non-African language speaking
tourists, were viewed as important scarcities,
“ the Minister said.
Skills defined as critical across the board
were largely in conflict management, teamwork,
IT skills, the ability to function fluently
in English, and overall, good communication
and service skills.
The most important challenges faced by
the sector in addressing scarce and critical
skills is that of improving collaboration
between stakeholders in order to meet the
goals of growth, inclusivity and improved
service delivery. It is equally important
that this be done quickly and in a very
practical way.
In this regard the national tourism skills
conference of October 2006 which resulted
in the Mogale City declaration on tourism
skills signed by government, communities,
organised labour and business laid a basis
for improved cooperation and coordination
of efforts by various social partners. The
National Tourism Skills Development Forum
a coordination mechanism to oversee tourism
skills development initiatives has been
formed comprising all the social partners.
Now that it is understood where the current
challenges lie, a strategy for dealing with
these will need to be finalised. Moving
from strategy to action, and from words
to implementation will be the underlying
principle of work to be done in the forthcoming
five years. Part of this effort will be
to integrate the findings of the tourism
skills audit into the revised National Skills
Development Strategy and sector skills plan.
In moving from strategy to action, DEAT
has placed 7 unemployed tourism graduates
in India and 4 in the United Arab Emirates
for experiential learning. 13 Gauteng tour
guides have been trained and are currently
placed in China for two months to undergo
experiential learning. The Chinese government
has agreed to extend training to three other
provinces. 142 tour guides around the country
are continuing with their second level of
training in the French language. A pilot
group of 34 tour guides have commenced training
in Spanish. Negotiations are underway for
more training in foreign languages that
will help us to serve key markets. These
include German, Italian, Japanese, Arabic,
Russian and Portuguese.
CONCLUSION
The Minister concluded by saying that “South
Africa is acknowledged as one of the fastest
growing destinations in the world. The growth
rate of international arrivals to South
Africa far outstrips the rest of the world.
In fact, over the past few years, the African
continent has been the fastest growing region,
achieving more than twice the average global
growth rate for international arrivals.
Africa’s arrivals growth rate was around
10%, while the global average was around
4.5% in 2006.
Over and above the numbers, we are aware
of our internal challenges and we continue
to work on them. I would like to encourage
everyone that will be participating in the
2007 tourism month celebrations to make
the best of this wonderful opportunity and
to take our tourism industry to even greater
heights.
If I weren’t lucky enough to call this
beautiful country home, I’d be sure to visit
here as a tourist.”
Mava Scott - Riaan Aucamp
