Tourism Is Gold For Africa

Tourism Indaba 2017 has been deemed a tremendous success. The event which held in the Kwazulu Natal province of South Africa from the 16th to the 18th of May saw a growth in visitors by a whopping 20%.

This year’s African Travel Indaba attracted about 7000 delegates, including 1449 local and international buyers, as well as more than 1000 exhibiting businesses from 18 African countries showcasing a diverse array of travel and tourism offerings.

A total of 692 registered media representatives attended the show, an 8% increase over 2016.

Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South African Tourism mentioned while speaking at the launch, “All signs point to Africa being the new tourism frontier”.

He further went on to speak about the global increase in international arrivals of 3.9% which exceeded the global increase in international arrivals overall.

So Africa is definitely the happening place to be, with vast untapped tourism potential that could buoy the greater African economy and contribute its prosperity, he said.

West Africa is firmly carried along, as SAT West Africa further strengths partnership and collaboration by hosting 28 Nigerian Tourism delegates that at this year’s Indaba.

The West African team were also treated to an especially engaging media session with SAT’s CEO Ntshona and Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa where the discussion revolved around promoting tourism in Africa as a whole.

In addition to the partnership, for the first time ever in Nigeria’s history, the Director General of National Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) in his office as DG visited the indaba. He was joined by three trade associations, NANTA, TOUGHA and NATOP.

Meanwhile,the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it will commit about 500 million dollars to revive agriculture and construction of world-class tourism and trade logistics infrastructure in The Gambia

The President of the bank, Benedict Oramah said this in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday.

Oramah, who met with President Adama Barrow in Banjul, said part of the fund would also be used to improve the country’s energy sector.

He said the construction of Tourism Relay Facilities would include luxury hotels and resorts which would generate higher revenues and foreign exchange inflows for the country.

According to Oramah, the bank will launch a Contingency Food Emergency Trade Financing Facility to assist countries exposed to droughts or floods, such as The Gambia.

He said the aim was to help such countries improve their financial preparedness through food imports.

Oramah said that the bank could also intervene in the provision of bridging finance for upgrade and expansion of the country’s major ports and related logistics infrastructure.

The statement quoted President Barrow as saying that the bank’s financing offer was in line with Gambia’s three-year programme for accelerated growth.

Barrow said the country was in urgent need for interventions to improve the means of livelihood of Gambians.

According to him, the four key areas to consider include macroeconomic management frameworks, strengthening the public sector, promoting sustainable inclusive growth, and investing in human capital.

Afreximbank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.

Since 1994, it has approved more than 51 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses, including about 10.3 billion dollars in 2016.

The bank has its headquarters in Cairo.

SOUTH AFRICA: Indians Interested In South African Tourism

'Despite demonetisation, the Indian market has shown good numbers for South Africa during 2016 as it had a growth of 27 per cent in arrivals that clocked 81,429 by the end of third quarter,' said county manager, South African Tourism- India, Hanneli Slabber.

The average time spent by Indian tourists in South Africa is 11 days and business travellers is 19 days.

Slabber said that Chennaiites have a thing for adventures, so there had been a marked shift from seeing to experiencing. The South African tourism department has customised adventure sports for shorter durations, keeping in mind that the Indian tourists want to experience sports like bridge bungee and skydiving in the very little time they have in hands.

'Also, South Africa is becoming an emerging destination for big fat Indian weddings,' said Slabber. 'The smallest wedding of a Chennai vaasi in South Africa comprised of 60 people while the largest had 550,' she added. It is learnt that most of the inhabitants of Chennai are preferring Cape Town for their destination wedding.

Another change made by South African tourism to invite Indian travellers is providing vegetarian food. 'Lot of veggie tourists from India had been complaining lately, so we made this change,' said Slabber.

Chief Quality Assurance Officer Darryl Erasmus said that the hotels across the country have been given star ratings from one to five. While the comfort level changes, safety level remains the same in all the hotels.

Also, the South African Tourism Department said they hope to cash in on cricket connect. According to them, lots of Indians fly to SA when there's a cricket match. Adding to that, Hanneli says that Indians also seem to be interested in golf courses which are abundant in the country.

With 80,000 Indian nationals visiting South Africa each year, the number is expected to grow henceforth.

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa Enjoys 28% Increase In Indian Arrivals

South Africa Tourism has witnessed a growth of 27.9 per cent in Indian arrivals from January to June 2016. According to arrivals statistics of August 2016, India has now emerged as the eighth long-haul tourism source market for South Africa.

Speaking about the development, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager - India, South African Tourism said, “India has always been a very important market for South African Tourism. 2015 was a spectacular year for South African Tourism and with a steady rise in arrivals in the first half itself, 2016 could well turn out to be one of the best years ever for South African Tourism in India. As of June 2016, 51,020 Indian tourists have visited South Africa between Jan 2016 to June 2016 which is an increase of 27.9 per cent vis-à-vis the same period last year. We are looking at around 100,000 visitors from India to South Africa in 2016. We had 79,000 visitors from India in 2015.”

She further added, “India has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing outbound tourism market over the years. Keeping this in mind, we are investing heavily in India and constantly adapting to the evolving consumer interests, diversifying our products and customising our offerings to varied consumer demands. We have wonderful expectations from the Indian market and going forward our increasing engagement with trade and consumers would help us in realising this vision.”

As per the recently released TTFDS report, there has been a significant increase of 51 per cent in the Total Foreign Direct Spend in South Africa per person travelling from India excluding capital expenditure (all pre-payments done in India prior to departure). The average spends in SA by Indian travellers increased from 10,400 Rand in 2014 to 15,700 Rand in 2015. According to the recent report on the length of stay for 2015, the average number of nights spent by Indians increased by one night making it an average of 18 nights.

Speaking about the trends from India market Slabber said, “A growing number of Indian tourists, who have valid driver’s license, are opting for self-drive tours along various scenic routes. We do see a lot of destination weddings going to Cape Town and the Game lodges – this is especially the trend where one party is a NRI. It has been observed that a lot of the smaller weddings opt for game lodges. They often take over the whole lodge and tend to spend a lot of time there before the wedding, bonding with family and friends.”

South Africa offers one of the world’s best adventure opportunities. “Adventure enthusiast can choose from a variety of exciting activities – on land, air and underwater – including numerous cycling, hiking and running trails, surfing, sky-diving. From bungee-jumping off the Bloukrans Bridge, which is the highest commercial bridge in the world, to abseiling off Table Mountain, diving with great white sharks to snorkelling with sea horses in Knysna, South Africa is a one-stop destination for the adrenaline junkie, Slabber added.

Last year, South African Airways had discontinued their direct connectivity between India and South Africa. When asked about plans to re-introduce direct flights, she explained, “Ensuring easy accessibility is of prime importance to the continued growth of tourist arrivals from India. Presently, South African Tourism is working with various airlines to ensure sufficient arrivals into key cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, through marketing alliances and code-sharing.”
- See more at: http://www.traveltrendstoday.in/news1/international/item/4684-south-africa-sees-28-increase-in-indian-arrivals#sthash.K00T4Dfo.dpuf

SOTH AFRICA: South African Tourism Rose In 2016

South African tourism has improved tremendously over the last year with a 26.6 percent increase in tourism revenue as it becomes attractive for European travelers looking for high tides and sunny escapes from an otherwise wintery home. The sunny weather has not only become appealing for European tourists but also for Indians wanting to experience everything South African tourism has to offer.

Citing Country Manager for India's South African Tourism Hanneli Slabber, a four-city road show showcasing South African tourism in key Indian cities namely Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Kolkata in January 2016 has become "encouraging" and "insightful" as the feedback allowed the South African Tourism Board and its partners to "streamline our offerings and consumer engagement." He added that the goal of the program was to bring in more tourists from India and have them stay longer.

According to the news website, India has the eighth largest number of tourists visiting the country with about 73,902 arriving in the country by the end of third quarter 2016. Official data from South African Tourism Board shows South Africans enjoy their local tourism with a figure of 570,944, followed by Europe with a total of visitors from Austria, Greece, Switzerland and others with 105,035.

According to African news network Sowetani Live, many Europeans are attracted to the sunny and warm climate of African states because of its "wide array of outdoor attractions" such as beaches, skydiving and water sports. The news website highlighted that climate change -- namely global warming -- could deteriorate Africa's lucrative tourism boom and said the changes are possibly inevitable.

Hotels in South African states such as Zimbabwe have increased in tourist occupancies by 80 percent from 60 percent but hotel occupancies in renowned luxury sites including Victoria Falls and Kariba only stood at 85-90%. According to local Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality analysis, the occupancies have declined due to the limited disposable income of domestic tourists who are currently dominating the local tourism market of Zimbabwe.

SOUTH AFRICA: 120 German Travel Agents Visit

German tour operator, TUI, and South African Tourism recently hosted 120 travel agents to experience the Eastern Cape and Cape Town. The TUI Erleben Tour is one of the biggest familiarisation trips out of Germany ever, says SA Tourism.

The group experienced the destination’s wildlife and nature offering as well as its lifestyle and culture.

January arrivals from Germany were at an all-time-high, with 28 944 tourists – a growth of 21.7% compared with last year over the same period. TUI has also seen a growth of 50% in bookings to SA for the current year. As a result, travel offers and programmes to South Africa have been extended and German travellers now have the choice of 20 itineraries to the destination, of which 11 were newly developed for 2016.

Mathias Tewes, GM Product Management Longhaul East, TUI Deutschland, said the majority of the agents on the trip were visiting South Africa for the first time. “The feedback was very positive and they got good insights and an excellent overview of what South Africa and TUI has to offer,” he said. He added that the products in the programme, which included Cape Town, Winelands, Walker Bay, Port Elizabeth and Addo Elephant National Park, were rated good to excellent. “The agents got a much better understanding of what the destination has to offer.”

According to Tewes, training travel agents to make them familiar with the destination and its diversity of products and regions is one of the biggest challenges to selling South Africa. He says other challenges include restrictive immigration regulations for families; the immigration process at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, such as long queues and the need to re check-in baggage for onward destinations; high demand during peak season when there can be accommodation shortages; and the fluctuation of the rand.

Tewes suggests that SAA should introduce a year-round direct flight from Germany to Cape Town.

“TUI is one of the biggest players in the market. We have a long-standing partnership of more than 20 years in which TUI helped us to unlock South Africa for German travellers. With this group of fantastic agents we kick-start our co-operation with TUI for 2016,” says Theresa Bay-Müller, SA Tourism Country Manager in Germany. “It is absolutely essential to invite travel agents to South Africa. They need to be trained on what our country has to offer and, most importantly, they need to be inspired by its beauty and people. They will be ambassadors forever.”

According to SA Tourism, strong and steady partnerships with the travel trade are the backbone of its work in Germany and familiarisation trips for travel agents are an important tool.

Participants of the familiarisation trip had to qualify by successfully completing an E-Learning programme.

SOUTH AFRICA: It Will take Time For South AFrica To recover From bad Visa Regulations

As the Department of Home Affairs prepares to relax the conditions of its new visa regulations, it’s being predicted that South Africa’s tourism industry could take a while to recover.

The tourism department announced on Friday that people travelling into South Africa will no longer be required to apply in person for their visas.

The requirement of an unabridged birth certificate for children coming into the country has also been lifted.

Lee-Anne Bac of Grant Thornton advisory services says the impact of the strict laws on the tourism industry has been greater than anticipated.

“It’s going to take a lot on time, energy and money to restore our reputation; to get the communication out there out there about the changed regulations and to convince those who’ve lost faith in us that they should actually have faith in us again.”

SOUTH AFRICA: Immigration Amendments Welcome News!

The announcement to amendment the Immigration Regulations was jointly made on Friday, the 23rd of October, by the Tourism Ministry and minister in the Presidency for planning, monitoring and evaluation, Jeff Radebe. New amended regulations can mean only positive results for the South African tourism industry.

The news on amendments to Immigration Regulations have been announced just before the festive season and could not be more welcomed by tourism stakeholders in South Africa. New visa changes have been introduced to address apprehensions raised by tourists, South African travellers and stakeholders in the tourism sector regarding revisions introduced over the last year. The announcement was jointly made on Friday the 23rd of October by the Tourism Ministry and Jeff Radebe, minister in the Presidency for planning, monitoring and evaluation.

New visa rules that came into effect in October 2014, made traveling into South Africa slightly inconvenient. Visitors had to apply for visas in person at South African embassies to record biometric information. The rule for children under 18 years old travelling in and out of South Africa to produce an unabridged birth certificate at entry ports was also introduced, causing much confusion and inconvenience. While it has been noted by the government that these requirements were necessary to safeguard the best interests of children, a recent Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Immigration, headed by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, has now made several recommendations to deal with the security consideration and the unplanned consequences of the regulations on various sectors, including tourism and investment.

Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said in a statement that the tourism industry would benefit from the approved recommendations allowing travel agents to make visa applications on behalf of their clients and that the birth certificate requirement for travelling minors would no longer include the word "unabridged". Additionally, the Department of Home Affairs will increase Visa Facilitation Centres around the world which will significantly aid in effective visa applications. Streamlining processes and procedures are fundamental to these amended regulations.

To assist with crucial investment by international companies into South Africa, the department will also introduce an Accredited Tourism Company (ATC) Programme for China, India and Russia, with possible extension to other visa requiring countries. This is a important step to ensure economic growth in South Africa and an integral part of the amended regulations.

Many other recommendations have also been put in place to ensure that South Africa becomes an accessible place to visit. From a visa application, through to travelling back home; it should be a valuable and smooth process. The new regulations are committed to building a professional, modern, world class department fully capable to provide secure and efficient identity and immigration systems without jeopardising tourism and investment. There was such a vast statistical decrease in travellers coming into the country between 2014 and 2015 that these amended regulations can only mean positive results for the tourist industry.

Planning a trip to South Africa? Use the simple infographic below to avoid the confusion and to become informed with the latest SA Immigration Regulations. Assisting countries in navigating information and changes are clearly mapped out here.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African Tourism Openly Welcomes Recommended Immigration Regulations

We welcome the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Immigration Regulations which was led by the Deputy President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. We believe that the recommendations will go a long way in easing tourism into South Africa as well as ensuring that the security of our nation is not compromised.

We would like to thank the task team, under the leadership of the Director-General in the Presidency, for the work they have done to ensure a thorough assessments of all concerned parties and reaching conclusions to allay all concerns.

We believe that the recommendations reached a balance between promoting the tourism industry as an economic driver, through the ease of travel into South Africa and addressing the safety and security of our children, and securing our national borders.

As South African Tourism we will work closely with the Departments of Home Affairs, Tourism and the Tourism Bodies in South Africa to communicate the recommendations as simply as possible to our tourism stakeholders around the world. South African Tourism will make available its overseas offices to communicate with industry, trade and media the decisions of the Inter-Ministerial Committee.

We welcome the opportunity to move together and work steadfastly with our stakeholders towards our primary mandate of marketing South Africa as a preferred leisure and business events destination.

NIGERIA: Akwaaba Travel Show Sells Nigeria As Tourism Destination

Stakeholders in the African travel and tourism sector gathered in Lagos for three days to brainstorm on ways to promote and improve the travel tourism sector in West African at the annual Akwaaba African Travel Market.

AfricaAkwaaba, according to the organisers of the event is a popular word in the West Africa which translates to welcome in Ghana and Cote D’ Ivoire. Over the last nine years, Akwaaba has become the most important travel marketing platform in the region drawing 7,000 to 10,000 visitors from over 20 countries.

Declaring the exhibition open, the Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, said Akwaaba gives people in the tourism industry room to interact with hoteliers, travel and transport industry operators and to share their individual experiences.

Individual experiences

While commending the efforts of the organiser, Mr. Ikechukwu Uko, the minister described Akwaaba as educative event which broadens people’s knowledge of the field of tourism. “It is equally an avenue for tourism investors to share ideas and proffer ways to develop tourism in Africa,” she said.

Mr. Ikechi Uko, the organizer of the exhibition said that the annual Akwaaba Tourism Fair has become an avenue to market Nigeria as a tourist destination. Uko noted that the country has enormous tourism potential that could be showcased to the international community.

“The fair has opened the door to Nigeria and Africa tourism market and served as a platform for exchange of cultural and tourism potentials among participating countries. “ Uko said.

Speaking on the low turn- out of foreign participants at this year’s fair, Mr. Ikechi Uko attributed it to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) that broke out last July. ”Out of over 15 countries that indicated their interests to participate in this year’s Akwaaba, only five countries were able to make it.

“The other countries were discouraged because of the outbreak of EVD in West Africa, “ he said. Uko urged the nation’s tourism practitioners to package and market domestic tourism destinations properly.

“Some practitioners do not have the fundamental knowledge of tourism; therefore, it has become difficult for them to market the destination.

He said the industry can only be developed when the nation’s tourism practitioners get it right, noting that Akwaaba fair would always serve as the best avenue for tourism practitioners to learn and understand the workings of the industry very well.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s tourism credentials as a leisure destination were put on full display at this year’s AKWAABA travel and trade show. During the three day show, the South African Tourism team pulled out all stops to actively promote South Africa’s unique value proposition as a leisure destination to the West African traveller and trade. Nigeria and South Africa have enjoyed a long-standing and fruitful partnership.

The two countries have many times spoken of their resolve to strengthen relations and work together for the long-term betterment of an economically vibrant African continent. Travel and tourism has been identified as a key driver in unbridling this potential.

South African Tourism used its time at AKWAABA to meet with the trade, present to them the destination’s value proposition and, most significantly, cement deals which will see South Africa’s destination offering bolstered in the consumer space.

Thulani Nzima, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of South African Tourism said the travel trade are a critical component to the work that they do.

“During AKWAABA we officially announced our partnership with the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) who will help boost tourist arrivals growth from Nigeria to South Africa by developing a range of packages to suit the Nigerian traveller.”

Significant milestone

This partnership, he says, is a significant milestone and one which we believe will go far in reaffirming our commitment to bolstering the economic relations between Nigeria and South Africa. It will also give us access to a wide audience of discerning travellers who contribute significantly to South Africa’s growth.

“Africans should stand together and continue to educate the rest of the world. If we want to continue attracting business and welcoming tourists from all over the world, it is our responsibility as the collective African trade industry to manage these perceptions swiftly.”

SOUTH AFRICA: Falling Rand Harms South African Tourism

Less buying power due to the weakening rand has probably resulted in a loss of over R300m in international marketing funds for South African Tourism (SAT), CEO Thulani Nzima said.

“The weakening of the rand against foreign currencies – which we need for marketing purposes in those destinations – have reduced our ability to do all the marketing we had originally budgeted and planned for,” explained Nzima at the 45th annual general assembly of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (Aasa).

“The weakening rand, therefore, affects our ability to deliver on our mandate as we budgeted at a particular – better – exchange rate.”

As for the view that the weaker rand will benefit the industry, Nzima said SAT cannot market the country on the basis of a weaker currency. SAT rather markets the country as a value for money destination. On top of that the fact that SA is a long haul destination must be taken into account.

SAT is also not allowed in terms of regulations to hedge against the currency weakening.

In order to, nevertheless, be proactive and try to mitigate the impact of the currency weakness on its marketing budget, SAT made four proposals to government.

These included asking National Treasury to protect SAT’s originally budgeted exchange rate or to ensure that the original amount in the foreign currency can still be spent. Neither of these proposals was accepted.

What was accepted, however, was to provide some of the funds to SAT already up front so that it could be transferred into the foreign currencies straight away before the rand became even weaker. In this way the impact on SAT’s spend was at least partially mitigated, according to Nzima.

“Treasury and the Portfolio Committee on Tourism understand our challenges and are very supportive of us,” continued Nzima.

“At SAT we have also taken some steps the past two years, like using internal funding – by sacrificing some other discretionary spending – to enable us to get closer to our marketing target spend.”

He emphasised, however, that he is aiming to avoid cutting any jobs at SAT in the process.

SOUTH AFRICA: Ignorance Is No Defence Says South African Tourism

South African Tourism cannot be blamed for failing to advise government against introducing new visa and immigration regulations because, according to its CEO Thulani Nzima, the organisation was never invited to participate in discussions relating to the much-criticised rules before they were passed into law!

He was seemingly unaware that such discussions were being held in the first place. And even if he were, he would not have been able to do anything because he’s not a politician and doesn’t sit in cabinet, where such decisions are made. According to him, former minister of tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk should have done his job and ensured that government did not go ahead with the new regulations.

Nzima is also unhappy with Statistics South Africa for having excluded transit passengers from tourism arrival figures. According to him, someone making a two-hour stopover at any of our international airports, en route to another country and without leaving the airport, should be counted as a visiting tourist to South Africa!

Failure to do this, he complains, robs his organisation of the opportunity to claim the numbers of these ‘passer-by-air travellers’ as the result of hard work by him and his team, and of reporting higher tourist arrivals into the country.

Furthermore, Nzima refuses to be blamed for failing to dispel perceptions in some target markets that Africa is one country, irrespective of SA Tourism having market presence and, with it, the resources to position South Africa in those target markets.

Do not even touch him on perceptions about Ebola being a problem in South Africa, alongside high levels of crime, as that too cannot be blamed on SA Tourism.

Scathing tourism industry review

All of this push-back by Nzima follows the release of a tourism industry review headed by former tourism minister Valli Moosa and commissioned earlier this year by current incumbent Derek Hanekom.

Based almost entirely on feedback from the tourism industry, the scathing Moosa review criticises SA Tourism for failing to use research and reliable market intelligence to make important marketing and spending decisions.

The combined skills of Nzima’s team at SA Tourism were also not spared, as the review deems them inadequate to meet the challenges of fast-changing dynamics in the global destination marketing environment.

Now, one could understand that the CEO of SA Tourism might have a particularly elevated sense of professional self-preservation during these troubled times, but surely he needs to convince us, those who pay his salary, that he’s the right person for the job?

Managing state-owned entities comes at a price

We’ve witnessed our state-owned enterprises and related institutions shed leadership one after the other - and for all the wrong reasons - in recent months. I am told it is very tough to head up any one of these institutions without knowing how to play the political ball.

Those who accept such positions naively, thinking that it suffices to have the right qualifications (where these actually do get checked) and professional experience, often end up learning the hard way.

It is said that no one gets to be appointed to senior positions in such entities without some form of political protection.

The first thing one has to do after being appointed is to ascertain the identity of one’s political sponsor(s), as these are the behind-the-scenes advisers to turn to when pressured to take or approve decisions that stray from existing processes, such as the Public Finance Management Act.

With parastatal boards often being headed or dominated by political bigwigs, it can be just a matter of time before the pressure comes to allocate a tender or appoint another connected individual outside established protocols.

With everything that has been going wrong in our beautiful land in recent times, let us hope that Nzima and others whose job it is to manage and position our national brand remember that South Africa’s attractiveness as a destination for investments and tourism rests in their hands.