Question NW690 to the Minister of Tourism
01 April 2022 - NW690
Winkler, Ms HS to ask the Minister of Tourism
Whether she will furnish Ms H S Winkler with the breakdown of all offices of her department that are abroad in terms of the Hub Strategy in relation to (a) clustering of country offices, (b) markets served by each office, (c) cost of running the offices in the specified country, (d) return on investment on the activities of each office and (e)(i) offices that are planned to be closed and (ii) new offices that are planned to be opened as a result of the Marketing Investment Framework and (f) collaboration with other departments, such as the Department of International Relations and Cooperation; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
a) South African Tourism has its Head Office in South Africa and offices in 10 countries globally, operating as regional hubs and servicing key source markets. The Netherlands Office is now operated virtually.
|
AFRICA |
AMERICAS |
EUROPE |
ASIA |
AUSTRALASIA |
||||||
|
South Africa |
Nigeria |
US |
Germany |
UK |
France |
Netherlands (virtual office) |
India |
China |
Japan |
Australia |
b) Markets served by each Office. Please note: In the 2021/22 fiscal, SA Tourism revised its market investment portfolio, moving from servicing 44 markets to 24 selected markets as illustrated below.
|
SAT Offices |
Markets serviced from office |
|
South Africa Office |
South Africa Hub: Domestic Market Central, East, Land Hub: Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia South America Hub Brazil (GSA representation in the market) Europe: Russia |
|
Nigeria Office
|
West Africa Hub: Nigeria |
|
USA Office |
Americas Hub: USA and Canada |
|
Germany Office: |
Central Europe Hub: Germany |
|
UK
|
UK Hub: United Kingdom |
|
France |
South Europe Hub: France, Spain, Portugal and Italy |
|
Netherlands
|
North Europe Hub: Netherlands |
|
India
|
MEISEA Hub: India |
|
China |
Asia Pacific Hub: China |
|
Japan |
Asia Pacific Hub: Japan |
|
Australia
|
Australasia Hub: Australia |
c) The annual budgeted costs of running each country office in the 2021/22 fiscal are stated below. The Netherlands country office costs were budgeted based on a physical office, but SA Tourism has since terminated the lease agreement and moved into a virtual office in the Netherlands.
|
AFRICA |
AMERICAS |
EUROPE |
ASIA |
AUSTRALASIA |
|||||
|
Nigeria |
US |
Germany |
UK |
France |
Netherlands |
India |
China |
Japan |
Australia |
|
R 10 966 330,22 |
R19 907 735,29 |
R15 036 995,68 |
R15 816 763,86 |
R18 299 468,49 |
R15 303 134,83 ( Virtual Office) |
R12 404 995,45 |
R9 570 171,17 |
R 6 210 215,70 |
R 11 469 591,43 |
d) Return on Investment
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted arrival into the destination. International tourist arrivals into South Africa between January and December 2021 reached to 2.2 million, remaining well below the 2019 pre-pandemic levels of 10.2 million arrivals.
South African Tourism marketing initiatives in key source markets focused on delivering brand positioning campaigns to both consumers and distribution channels to improve South Africa’s brand strength by creating awareness of the destination and its value proposition and showcasing value for money products, experiences and attractions. The annual results of these campaigns will be finalised at the end of the fiscal.
(e) (i) The Netherlands Office, while still servicing the hub, is now a virtual office in the Netherlands. SA Tourism does not have a directive to close any other offices.
(e) (ii) SA Tourism does not have a directive to open more Offices.
(f) In order to extend its global footprint, SA Tourism works closely with DIRCO by empowering and supporting Missions to execute their tourism mandate through training and the provision of tools to promote the destination.