Question NW3399 to the Minister of Tourism
01 December 2023 - NW3399
Matumba, Mr A to ask the Minister of Tourism
Whether she has found out that she has failed in her core mandate as she did not achieve core targets, including implementing the (a) global tourism brand campaign plan, (b) integrated destination brand, (c) marketing strategy and (d) elements of the global advocacy programme; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, how does she intend to remedy the situation?
Reply:
No, I have not failed. Just the opposite, in fact.
Some of the targets that were not achieved in the previous Financial Year 2022/23, have all been submitted and presented to the Portfolio Committee with the remedial action.
Also just to remind you that the Financial Year 2022/23 is applicable from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
The current Financial Year started on 1 April 2023 and will end on 31 March 2024.
In the current financial year the Department has achieved the following:
TOURIST ARRIVALS:
Between January and September this year, South Africa saw a significant influx of tourists, with over 6,1 million visitors arriving in the country, more than 58.4% when compared to the 3.8million arrivals to South Africa the same period in 2022.
During this period, visitors from Africa represented 4.6million of the total arrivals to South Africa, a 60% increase in Africa land arrivals and a 35% increase in Africa air arrivals when compared to the same period in 2022.
South Africa welcomed more than 862 000 arrivals from Europe between January and September this year, a 50,9% increase on the more than 571 000 arrivals in 2022.
From Asia, we welcomed more than 148 000 visitors in the first 9 months of 2023, an increase of 82,6% compared to arrivals in the same period in 2022.
Notably, China’s year-on-year arrival figures also show a significant increase to 3060 in October 2023. This reflects a 132,5% increase when compared to the same period in 2022.
All markets saw an increase in arrivals to South Africa of between 48 and 99%.
During the first two quarters of 2023, total tourist foreign direct spend amounted to R48 billion.
DOMESTIC TOURISM:
In the first half of 2023, South Africans took 18.8 million domestic overnight trips.
This is up 23.4% when compared to the same period in 2022.
Overnight spend was also up by 21.2% to reach just over R52 billion in the same period.
AIR ACCESS:
We have also seen great growth in our Air Access with the resumption of the Direct Flight from China in February this year.
Latam also launched its inaugural flight to South Africa in September 2023.
In October, South African Airways also relaunched its direct flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
In December 2023, we are expecting the direct flight will resume between Johannesburg and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and we are working with the Saudi Arabia Air Access team to secure a direct flight from Cape Town to Jeddah.
South Africa also has six active airlines connecting over 23 cities in African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS:
One month after my arrival in the Department, we scrapped the controversial R1billion Tottenham Hotspurs deal.
In the 2023/24 Financial Year, due to my intervention, an out-of-court settlement was reached, unlocking the R1.2 billion Tourism Equity Fund and the Request for Proposals opened on 6 November 2023.
Furthermore, the Green Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa was gazetted for public comment in September 2023 and the Tourism Sector Masterplan was also gazetted for implementation on 13 October 2023.
All the performance reports for the previous Financial Years are as per the Department’s APP and have been reported to the Portfolio Committee and are available online on the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.