TOURISM stakeholders were invited by Parliament’s Portfolio Committees on Tourism and Police to address tourist safety issues in South Africa.
The workshop, which was held yesterday, was initiated by government in the wake of recent attacks, including the armed robbery at Mount Nelson and the murder of a Ukrainian tourist at Chapman’s Peak in Cape Town, which both made international headlines.
Blacky Komani, Chairman of Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), told MPs the incidents had led to a “material loss of tourism bookings”.
Snap surveys of tourism operators revealed that another concern was tourists being followed from airports and robbed. Fifty such cases have been reported over the past three years.
A desktop survey in Mpumalanga, which is home to the Kruger National Park, revealed that at least 10 tourists had been hijacked between June and July this year, he said.
He told MPs one of the key shortcomings was not responding adequately following incidents. “One of the issues that we don’t do well is to deal with a crisis and communicate correctly when a crisis happens.”
Feedback was well received, Blacky told TNW. “There is a seriousness from government to address safety and security issues. It was acknowledged that something has to be done, particularly if we want to achieve tourism growth targets set for 2030.
“Government is not shying away and plans to tackle these problems head-on.”
TBCSA is engaging with Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane to see if part of the levies collected from operators, instead of just being used for marketing, can go toward creating infrastructure, like cameras and a monitoring centre, to deal with crime targeting tourists.
“Collaboration between the public and private sector is critical. We need to work together to come up with solutions,” Blacky said.
“We are prepared to put money in and work with the SA Police Service and Department of Tourism to combat crime.”
Wesgro, also invited to the joint meetings, presented its tourism safety communications plan. “The plan sets out steps to be taken to ensure the tourism trade is equipped with the tools they need to communicate on this topic, frequently asked questions and answers, research/data and a portal where this information can be housed and accessed by the trade,” says Russel Brueton, Wesgro’s chief communications officer.
