SOUTH AFRICA: Tourists Not Complaining So Much

With the weaker rand – which took another tumble over the past few days – business should be looking good for Mpumalanga tourism operators. But it isn’t.

Since last year, tourism operators in a province known for its vast attractions say they have lost between 15% and 50% of their overseas clients.

Matthew Louw, a branch manager for Hylton Ross – which offers safari tours in the Kruger National Park – says tourists have been cancelling their trips because of the new visa regulations. Visas now require unabridged birth certificates for children under the age of 18, in addition to passports.

“We should be making a lot of money, but we’re battling. There have been cancellations due to the visa regulations, Ebola, xenophobia and, to some extent, the attacks in east Africa,” he says.

“The other day, I had a very happy couple from England and they spent £3 500 (R71 000) here.

“Perhaps things will improve in the busy season from September, but it doesn’t look rosy at the moment.”

The rand depreciated to an all-time low of 14 to the US dollar at the beginning of the week, as markets plunged around the world over concerns about China’s economic health. The local currency did improve slightly on Friday morning to R13.14.

Another tour operator, Tanya Ruf of Oliver’s Restaurant and Lodge in White River, agreed with Louw about the constraints brought about by the new visa regulations.

“The weaker rand won’t help and tourists prefer to go to other countries in Africa where regulations are less stringent. I would estimate we’ve had a 10% decline in our tourist numbers. There have been people we have booked who have cancelled,” Ruf said.

“The weaker rand is definitely in our interest, but tourists are losing interest in us.”

Ruf says 65% of their tourists are foreign.

Mpumalanga is a favourite for overseas tourists because of the Kruger Park, which boasts the Big Five as well as exclusive private lodges.

According to the latest Tourism Satellite Account for SA report, tourism direct GDP was R103.6bn in 2013, compared with R93.5bn in 2012.

The Tourism Business Council of SA estimates that the country will lose in the following ways: 100 000 tourists will stay away in 2015 because of the visa regulations and the R1.4bn total net loss will result in 9 300 jobs being lost.

SOUTH AFRICA: Corrupt Police Kill Tourism

Corrupt traffic cops have emerged as one of the biggest threats to Mpumalanga’s tourism industry for demanding bribes from foreign tourists.

Predatory traffic officers have allegedly been targeting foreign tourists along most of the major routes leading to destinations such as the Kruger National Park, Pilgrim’s Rest and God’s Window. They demand bribes for absurd traffic offences that include:

- Paying toll fees where there are no tollgates;

- Driving too close behind trucks; and

- Changing lanes without indicating.

One example is that of a Dutch family of nine. They were reportedly driving in two Toyota Avanzas and forced to draw R2 000 at an ATM to pay traffic officers in Barberton for allegedly not indicating when they changed lanes, and also failing to stop, on August 1.

A Flemish-speaking couple were allegedly stopped by traffic officers on the R36 outside Ohrigstad and told to pay a R300 toll fee on July 28. This road has no tollgate.

The incidents commonly happen on the N4 toll road and other roads near the towns of Hazyview, Hoedspruit, Lydenburg, White River and Barberton.

Tourism industry stakeholders have embarked on an intensive awareness campaign after Kruger Lowveld Tourism (KLT) recorded at least 135 cases of extortion of foreign tourists by traffic officers since January last year.

KLT executive director and marketing consultant Lisa Sheard said corrupt and intimidating traffic officials had been a “sad feature” of the Kruger Lowveld region – which was the biggest draw card and where most tourist attractions were situated. Mpumalanga receives approximately 1.1 million foreign tourists a year and this region generates about R7bn each year while foreign direct spend in the whole country is about R65bn.

“In recent times, the number of reports relating to incidents of corruption, extortion and intimidation of tourists – particularly international self-drive tourists – by traffic officials has escalated significantly,” said Sheard.

“International self-drive tourists are easy targets because they are easy to spot. They are usually driving a small, rental car with the registration plates of another province, hugging the inside yellow line of the road at slow speeds. In a region that has suffered from high media coverage of other tourism-related crime, this has severely dented the image of the Kruger Lowveld region and Mpumalanga as a tourist destination,” she said.

The Roadside Anti-Corruption Initiative involves the police, KLT and Trans African Concessions (Trac), which manages the N4 freeway. The campaign aims to inform tourists that it is illegal to pay cash to any traffic officer or any other official on the roadside. Business cards are issued to tourists as they enter the Lowveld at the Middelburg and Machadodorp tollgates, with 24-hour contact numbers of the police, KLT and Trac.

Trac will also be erecting boards in key hot spot areas to generate awareness of the campaign.

“Tourism is one of the identified key areas leading to job creation in South Africa,” said Trac’s chief executive Graham Esterhuysen. “The bad experiences of visitors – who have encountered fraud, corruption and theft – reverberate overseas and undo all the good work done by our tourism ambassadors. In the event that this campaign helps to prevent such bad experiences, Trac is fully supportive of the initiative.”

Mpumalanga’s spokesperson for the department of safety, security and liaison, Joseph Mabuza, said it was difficult to fight the problem because tourists often did not report incidents to the police but rather to tourism establishments. “It would assist us if they could report the cases to the police. We could then follow up and institute disciplinary procedures against traffic officials who are implicated,” said Mabuza.

Mpumalanga Tourism Parks Agency’s head of tourism, Xolani Mthethwa, said the parastatal was developing a tourism safety strategy to curb this scourge and it would be finished in October. The strategy would then be submitted to Government.