08
April 2009 - Media Statement - Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism - WEDNESDAY,
15 APRIL 2009:The Boundless Southern Africa
Expedition will cut across the nine SADC
countries from May to August 2009. The four
month long expedition aims to create maximum
awareness about the tourism and investment
opportunities in the seven Transfrontier
Conservation Areas, TFCAs. The seven TFCAs
are /Ai-/Ais-Ricthersveld, Kgalagadi, Kavango-Zambezi,
Limpopo-Shashe, Great Limpopo, Lubombo and
Maloti-Drakensberg.
In 2005, the Ministers
of Tourism of the nine SADC Countries of
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
endorsed a TFCA Development Strategy for
2010 and beyond. The strategy’s main objective
is to increase the tourism potential of
Southern Africa by consolidating marketing,
infrastructure development and investment
promotion efforts of the Transfrontier Conservation
Areas (TFCA) initiatives.
A TFCA is an area straddling
across two or more international borders
where natural and cultural resources are
collaborately managed by governments/authorities
involved
The BSA expedition will
be led by Kingsley Holgate of National Geographic
Travel and will start at the National Tourism
Indaba in Durban on May 11, and end at the
mouth of the Orange River in the Ai/Ais/Richtersveld
in August 2009. The 10 000km expedition
will cover the nine countries, seven Tranfrontier
Conservation Areas and 30 National Parks
and Nature Reserves.
Boundless Southern Africa
is the consolidated marketing brand that
was launched in May 2008 to raise the profile
of the seven TFCAs. The secretariat for
BSA was appointed in 2007 and is hosted
by the Department of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism and is one of the legacy programmes
for the 2010 Local Organising Committee.
The hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup
by South Africa is based on the premise
that the World Cup event will not only benefit
South Africa but Southern Africa and Africa
as a whole. TFCAs provide the mechanisms
for sharing the tourism benefits of the
2010 event to the region.
The expedition will
not only focus on tourism and investment
opportunities alone, but also on other humanitarian
activities, They include the following:
One Net One Life” distribution
of mosquito nets in malaria prevalent TFCAs
to pregnant mothers and children under five.
“ Teaching on the Edge “project which will
focus on the donation of mobile libraries
to rural schools around the Tran frontier
Parks.
“Right to Sight” Campaign where reading
glasses will be distributed to the poor
sighted.
Upgrading of Soccer fields and distributing
soccer balls
Community days in each TFCA will be observed
through soccer matches amongst other things
to raise awareness about the 2010 Soccer
World Cup.
A pipeline of 51 bankable investment opportunities
has been developed under Boundless Southern
Africa. They range from small and medium
type lodges to multi million rand developments
such as the Kavango-Zambezi Waterfront Development.
Investment promotion efforts are underway.
Albi Modise
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Tourism performing impressively
in terms of arrivals growth and spend "Estimated
23.5 per cent increase in foreign direct
spend is especially encouraging" says
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Marthinus van Schalkwyk
16 April 2009 - Media
Statement - Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism - WEDNESDAY, 08 APRIL
2009: In the context of an extremely challenging
global environment, South Africa's tourism
sector continues to impress, especially
in terms of arrivals growth and total foreign
direct spend generated.
However, provincial
spread, seasonality patterns and length
of stay are areas which require attention.
This was the message
from Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism, at a
media briefing today at the headquarters
of South African Tourism in Sandton.
Visitor arrivals figures
were announced earlier this year. Today
the Minister announced the figures for foreign
direct spend generated by tourism last year.
He also revealed which of the key traveller
markets had maintained good growth, which
had declined and which had remained steady.
Minister Van Schalkwyk
said he was encouraged by the industry's
performance last year and remained optimistic
that South Africa would achieve its target
of 10 million arrivals in 2010.
"The South African
industry continued to perform well in spite
of pressures exerted by the global financial
crisis that had seen growth in the global
industry shrink to 1.3 per cent last year.
South Africa had recorded 5.5 per cent arrivals
growth over the period," the Minister
said.
"I am especially
encouraged by the fact that foreign direct
spend in 2008 had grown by an estimated
23.5 per cent, bringing the total revenue
generated by tourism to more than R356 billion
since 2003," Minister Van Schalkwyk
said.
A total of 9,591,828
foreigners visited South Africa last year
compared to 9,090,881 in 2007.
Regional and short haul
tourists remained the largest and most lucrative
market for the South African industry, Ms
Didi Moyle, acting CEO of South African
Tourism, said.
Arrivals from Africa
grew seven per cent last year with Mozambique
(13.2 per cent), Angola (15.3 per cent)
and Swaziland (4.7 per cent) continuing
to show strong growth. African land markets
last year contributed an estimated R43.5
billion in total foreign direct spend to
the economy.
The Americas region
performed well with a 5.2 per cent increase
in 2008. However, growth declined in the
Asia and Australasia (-3.2 per cent) and
Europe (-0.5 per cent) regions.
In terms of the Tourism
Growth Strategy (TGS), South African Tourism's
mandate is to: grow the number of visitors
to South Africa; to encourage visitors to
stay for longer; to stimulate higher tourist
spending; to encourage tourism to the 'undervisited'
provinces in order to spread revenue more
widely; to ease seasonality patterns (that
see high arrivals in summer and depressed
arrivals in winter); and to transform the
industry so that historically marginalised
communities may enjoy the lucrative rewards
of the industry.
Minister Van Schalkwyk
said the industry had done exceptionally
well in some TGS categories last year. However,
seasonality, provincial spread and length
of stay remained areas which required attention.
Although length of stay
had improved to 8.2 nights per visitor last
year (against 7.9 nights in 2007), the figure
had only managed to reach its 2006 level.
The overall length of stay has declined
steadily since 2002, when it was 10.1 nights
per visitor.
The number of provinces
visited showed a slight decline from 1.3
provinces in 2007 to 1.2 provinces in 2008.
Six years ago tourists visited an average
of 1.8 provinces.
In 2008, Gauteng and
the Western Cape were the most popular provinces
visited (enjoying 32.3 per cent and 26.9
per cent of visitor nights respectively).
They also accounted for the bulk of expenditure
on accommodation.
The third most popular
province was KwaZulu-Natal with 10.7 per
cent of visitor nights. The most undervisited
province in the country last year was the
Northern Cape with 0.9 per cent visitor
nights.
Although air arrivals
had shown a steady improvement in seasonality
since 2003, there had been a slight worsening
in total seasonal spread last year. Seasonality
indices were down .46 points year on year.
South Africa is set
to host numerous global events including
the Indian Premier League, the ICC Champions
Trophy, the British Lions Tour, the Confederations
Cup and the 2010 FIFA World CupTM. "These
events will help the industry weather the
global economic storm and it gives us an
opportunity to prove our global competitiveness.
Our successful hosting of these events will
also entrench South Africa both as a capable
and a desirable leisure destination,"
the Minister said.
Monde Mateza
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DM’s Hand-Over Speech
of Queen Modjadji V Lodge at Modjadji Village,
Limpopo: 17th April 2009
MEC of Economic Development,
Environment and Tourism: Mr. Collins Chabane
Greater Letaba Municipality mayor: Mr. L
Matlou
Mayors from Giyani, Tzaneen and Maruleng
Municipalities
Chiefs from various Traditional Authorities
Professors and other academic leaders present
Members of the media
Community members
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Please allow me to start
by narrating a short, but very important
story which developed over many centuries
up to this day. Without this story, we would
not be able to gather here today.
In the 1800 century
a Karanga kingdom princess together with
a small group of followers embarked on a
historical journey from Monomotapa, which
is modern day Zimbabwe, and headed towards
south. The princess and her handful followers
settled in the area with spectacular mountain
ranges, picturesque valleys, the Molototsi
River and forests rich in a variety of flora
and fauna.
When she left Monomotapa,
the princess who was later known as Queen
Modjadji brought along rare traditional
medicine and special beads that enabled
her to perform rain-making ancestral rituals.
She became renowned as a rainmaker and her
reputation soon spread throughout Southern
Africa and later internationally.
Queen Modjadji mystic
powers brought respect and even from great
warriors who at the time were notoriously
known to be hungry for power left her and
the small tribe untouched.
It is on record that
even renowned warriors such as king Shaka
and Muzilikazi paid tribute to Queen Modjadji
at a time it was a taboo for a woman to
command political respect she had.
King Shaka showed his
respect for the queen by sending black cattle
to pay tribute to Queen Modjadji the 1st
and called her the rainmaker of rainmakers
which reinforced the great supernatural
ability the queen possessed. Other kingdoms
such as Lesotho led by Moshoeshoe, the Swazis,
and others in Southern Africa also paid
tribute.
The Honours
I have no doubt that today we are honouring
a unique legacy which existed since the
pre-colonial days. While other men-led dynasties
collapsed, the woman-led dynasty still lives
on to this day. This speaks volumes of the
capacity of women to rule.
We are handing-over
to Greater Letaba Municipality a development
with rich legacy that should be relatively
easy to develop further and make a success
out of it. The many honours conferred to
Queen Modjadji dynasty over the years provide
unwavering evidence of my confidence.
? Modjadji's international reputation was
established in the 1880s, when populist
adventure writer Rider Haggard incorporated
her into his blockbuster book, King Solomon's
Mines. Haggard further developed Modjadji's
mystic attraction, when he based the cult
book, She, on the Rain Queen. The book,
about a stunningly beautiful and immortal
queen with supernatural powers, who ruled
over a hidden kingdom, was turned into an
influential movie in the 1970s.
? South African Weather Service honoured
Queen Modjadji for their contribution to
the good rains.
? Our first democratically elected president,
Nelson Mandela has described one of Queen
Modjadjis as one of the most powerful women
in Africa, and even compared her to Queen
Elizabeth of Great Britain.
? The third Rain Queen, Khetoane Modjadji
III, was described by past South African
Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts as ‘handsome
and intelligent’. This honour was bestowed
on her by a member of a racist apartheid
government who saw blacks people intelligence
as very limited.
? The small forestry town of Duiwelskloof
in Limpopo's sub-tropical Letaba Valley,
was officially renamed Modjadjiskloof in
honour of the Balobedu people's unique monarch,
the legendary Rain Queen Modjadji. This
area will benefit a great deal from the
renaming of the town after Modjadji. Tourists
will also be eager to see the dense forest
of cycad trees which are the highest in
the world in the Royal Modjadji Nature Reserve.
Modjadji is a powerful
name that is known across the world. For
many, however, the main attraction of this
area is not so much its natural beauty which
is in abundance but rather the historical
and legendary figure of Modjadji, the Rain
Queen.
By allowing us to use
her dynasty name which is set to continue
with the successive Rain Queens, the Rain
Queen will be putting this area on the tourist
map and will be helping create jobs and
eradicate poverty.
Our Department has funded
a project that has created assets which
we are handing-over to Greater Letaba Municipality
to manage in line with the aims and objectives
envisaged.
Amongst many expectations,
our department wishes to see the assets
managed effectively, efficiently and economically
with the spin-offs benefiting people represented
in the Balobedu Trust. We believe all the
basic fundamentals are in place for the
custodian to achieve great results in turning
a facility named after the Legendary Queen
Modjadji into phenomenal success.
I would like to encourage the municipality
to be economically creative and also seek
assistance whenever they experience challenges.
Like the successive
Rain Queens in the Modjadji dynasty, we
would like to see the great assets we are
handing-over today passed on from generation
to generation in good condition and achieving
similar successes the legacy of Queen Modjadji
is famous of.
Thank you
