Department of Tourism 2012 Strategic Plan
Meeting Summary
The Department of Tourism briefed the Committee on its 2012 Strategic Plan. Prior to the commencement of the actual briefing, the Director-General made some opening remarks relating to his attendance of a meeting in Geneva of the Air Transport Airport Group which was made up of amongst others the CEOs of companies like Airbus, Boeing and Rolls Royce. At the meeting statistics on various aviation related issues were released. These included the following:
•The aviation industry had generated $2.2 trillion and 56.6m jobs worldwide.
•There were 23 844 commercial aircraft in service worldwide- this figure was expected to double over the next 20 years.
•There were 1568 registered airline companies around the world.
•In 2011 passengers flew 5.1 trillion kilometres.
The Committee was given a diagrammatical overview of the new NDT structure as well as a breakdown of the NDT’s goals and its organisational risks. In 2010 the decision was taken to sort out the organisational structure of the Department which was now complete. The Department had come up with a two pronged approach- one domestic and another international. The new structure of the Department had been approved by the Department of Public Service and Administration and National Treasury.
Meeting report
National Department of Tourism (NDT) 2012 Strategic Plan
Opening Remarks by Director-General
Mr Kingsley Makhubela, Director-General, NDT, stated that he had attended a meeting in Geneva of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) which was made up of amongst others the CEOs of companies like Airbus, Boeing and Rolls Royce. Statistics on various aviation related issues were released at that meeting. These included the following:
•The aviation industry had generated $2.2 trillion and 56.6m jobs worldwide.
•There were 23 844 commercial aircraft in service worldwide- this figure was expected to double over the next 20 years.
•There were 1568 registered airline companies around the world.
•In 2011 passengers flew 5.1 trillion kilometres.
On international matters the NDT did not wish to duplicate the work of SA Tourism. The NDT would focus on policy issues. It had to be kept in mind that the world today was very integrated. The focus could no longer be on individual countries. SA Tourism had to come up with a hub strategy. The question was how the country was going to leverage into opportunities. Did South Africa have a strategy in relation to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)? What was the country’s strategy at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)? Those questions and others informed what the NDT’s new organisational structure should be.
Ms Nomzamo Bhengu, Chief Directorate: Governance Support, NDT, spoke to the legislative and policy mandate of the NDT. Tourism sector priorities were also highlighted. The NDT’s key priorities like job creation, domestic tourism, skills development and responsible tourism were outlined. Members were given insight into the review of the NDT Mandate, its vision, mission and values. The Committee was given an overview of the new NDT structure as well as a breakdown of its goals and organisational risks.
Mr Dirk van Schalkwyk, Chief Operations Officer, NDT, stated that the purpose of the Programme was to provide strategic leadership, centralised administration, and executive support and corporate services. The strategic outcome orientated goal was to achieve good corporate and cooperative governance. Under each of the Programme’s strategic objectives members were shown what performance indicators had been put in place, what the baseline was set at and what the medium term targets for 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 were. For example under the strategic objective of effective organisational performance and management system with the performance indicator being percentage compliance with provisions of government’s performance and risk management prescripts, the base line had been set at 100%. The targets for the upcoming three financial years were set at 100% compliance per year.
Mr Victor Tharage Deputy Director General: Policy and Knowledge Services, NDT, stated that the purpose of the Programme was to support sector policy development and evaluation, research and knowledge management, promotion of transformation and responsible tourism. Under each of the Programme’s strategic outcome orientated goals with its accompanying strategic objectives members were shown what performance indicators were put in place, what the baseline was set at and what the medium term targets for 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 were. For example with the strategic outcome orientated goal to improve the impact of tourism on the livelihood of all South Africans coupled with the strategic objective of monitoring and evaluation of tourism sector performance, strategies and policies. Using the frequency of the state of tourism reports as a performance indicator; the base line used was the 2010 State of Tourism report. The targets for the upcoming three financial years were set at 1 report per year.
Ms Aneme Malan Deputy Director General: International Tourism, NDT, explained that the purpose of was to provide strategic political and policy direction for the development of South Africa’s potential throughout various regions of the world. Under each of the Programmes’s strategic outcome orientated goals with its accompanying strategic objectives Members were shown what performance indicators were put in place, what the baseline was set at and what the medium term targets for 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 were. For example with the strategic outcome orientated goal of increased contribution of the tourism sector to inclusive economic growth coupled with the strategic objective of being to provide international tourism market(country and/or region) analysis to inform strategic interventions. Using the number of country profiles developed and updated per year as a performance indicator no baseline had been set but targets for the upcoming three financial years were set at 180 profiles year.
Ms Morongoe Ramphele, Deputy Director-General: Domestic Tourism, NDT, noted that the purpose of the Programme was to provide political, policy and strategic direction for the development and growth of sustainable domestic tourism throughout SA. The strategic outcome orientated goal was to increase contribution to the tourism sector to inclusive economic growth. Under each of the Programme’s strategic objectives Members were shown what performance indicators were put in place, what the baseline was set at and what the medium term targets for 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 were. For example under the strategic objective to facilitate the implementation of appropriate support packages for regions with the performance indicator being the number of provincial profiles developed, no baseline had been set.
The targets for the upcoming three financial years were set at 9 profiles updated per year.
Mr Ralph Ackerman, Chief Financial Officer, NDT, gave the Committee a breakdown of the Department’s financials. The NDT had spent 98.8% of its budget. 1.2% of its budget had been underspent, 60% of which would be carried over to the next financial year. The Committee was given a breakdown per programme of the NDT’s budget for 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15. The total budget for 2012/13 was R1.367 332m and the breakdown per programme was as follows: Administration- R 195 043m; Policy and Knowledge Services- R 787 994m; International Tourism- R46 834m and Domestic Tourism- R337 461m. Over the MTEF period there had a been an increase in the budget by 9.36% from R1.367 332m in 2012/2013 to R1.495 360m in 2013/14 and an increase by 5.6% from R1.495 360m to R1.580 091m in 2014/15. Members were given a further breakdown of figures within each programme.
The Chairperson queried the NDT before Members engaged on the contents of the briefing. Had the NDT addressed the Auditor Generals concerns which had emanated from its Annual Report? What progress had been made with regards to the Convention Bureau. What did the Memorandum of Understanding between the NDT and the Department of Home Affairs entail? The Department of Science and Technology had a PHD Programme for post graduate studies, was the NDT involved in it given that it was collaborating with universities. Was the allegation that Parliament was using illegal tourism guides true? Was the use of graded establishments by government being monitored? If it was, what were the results?
He was not aware of the PHD Programme of the Department of Science and Technology. Departments were required to have their own agreements with universities as the NDT did.
On the issue of visas the NDT had agreed on a framework with the Department of Home Affairs. Issues of national security had to be balanced with economic benefits.
She noted that the NDT had a database of signed agreements. The NDT intended to service agreements.
He asked what the other spheres of government were doing on marketing and branding.
Mention was also made of tourist operators and couriers. He noted that couriers specifically were covered in a bill which was governed by the Department of Transport and that the NDT should enquire about it as it impacted upon tourism. There was good progress made on the domestic side of things. However air travel and hotels in SA was far too expensive. Prices had skyrocketed during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and had remained so. It was an issue which needed to be addressed.
He was glad that the NDT had MOUs with universities on research and development. The Committee needed to have access to these MOUs as well. Another concern that he had was the excessive use of consultants by government departments. Why should research be done by consultants when departments could do it in-house? There were simple methods of compiling information. He had recently visited Australia and in that country the authorities had a form at the airport which needed to be filled out as to why a person visited Australia and whom they were visiting. Similar forms could be used at SA airports in order to compile information.
He acknowledged that the vacancy rate was a problem. The public services acceptable figure was 12%. The NDT’s vacancy rate was 9% and hoped to bring this down to 5%.
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