Question NW687 to the Minister of Tourism

Reply:

a) South Africa Tourism is entrusted with responsibilities of primarily focusing on marketing South Africa as a domestic and international tourist destination (leisure) and as a business tourism destination. Each year SAT develops an annual performance plan derived from its five year strategy. SAT’s five year strategy is guided by the strategic plan of the department. Each annual performance outlines priorities and programmes that SAT will be driving for that particular year and a budget for each priority or programme is allocated accordingly and approved by parliament. The primary goal of the marketing programmes driven within SAT is the increase in the number of tourists both International arrivals and domestic travellers.

Objectively getting travellers to choose South Africa as a destination of choice and getting South Africans to travel is influenced by factors that are within SAT’s control and those that are outside SAT’s control.

SAT can control factors such as the intensity of its campaigns, the countries it targets, the demographics it targets, and etc. which are outlined in the funded marketing framework. The strategy as expressed in each APP gives expression to how much budget is allocated to maximise on the factors that are within the control of SAT towards achieving the main goal which the increase in numbers.

Notwithstanding the investment in marketing, negative perceptions about South Africa are a significant barrier for international tourists. These issues lead to the divergence between budget allocations and the performance of SAT. The following are key issues that adversely affect the number of tourists visiting the country:

• Safety and security concerns
• The Cape Town Water Crisis Messaging that exaggerated the situation.
• Inappropriate wildlife interaction
• Immigration regulations particularly visa application processes and the recently scrapped requirement for unabridged birth certificate for minors travelling to South Africa.

(b) How was the budget to SAT calculated in the (i) past three financial years and (ii) for the 2019-20 financial year

The following table indicate the budget of SA Tourism’s budget for the past three financial years and for the 2019/20 financial year.

Name of the Programme		2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
		(R’000)	(R’000)	(R’000)	(R’000)
1.	Corporate Support	102 127	151 212	132 271	135 171
2.	Business Enablement	99 907	60 926	85 929	89 700
3.	Leisure Tourism Marketing	846 955	955 996	1 026 270	1 066 602
4.	Business Events	154 552	172 123	129 287	137 869
5.	Visitor Experience	54 035	49 596	65 807	68 695
Total		1 257 576	1 389 853	1 439 564	1 497 857

Programme 1: Corporate Support

Corporate Support provides support services to the organisation and ensures compliance with statutory Requirements.

 

Programme 2: Business Enablement

Business Enablement ensures that the strategic plan is developed and integrated with business performance monitoring, governance and evaluation. It provides centralised research insights and analytics to support the core business and provide an open source for information-sharing with the tourism sector.

 

Programme 3: Leisure Tourism Marketing

Leisure Tourism Marketing provides destination tourism marketing, targeting both international and domestic leisure tourists.

 

Programme 4: Business Events

The Business Events programme markets South Africa as a business events

 

Programme 5: Tourist Experience

The Tourist Experience programme aims to deliver a quality experience expected by international and domestic tourists by grading establishments, developing product capacity and building itineraries for tourists.