SA signs tourism agreement with Iran

THE South African government yesterday signed a Tourism Cooperation Agreement with its Iran counterparts, concluded by Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mohammed Valli Moosa and Minister Kharazzi at an unveiling ceremony held in Pretoria. The Memorandum of Understanding includes the facilitation of customs facilities for travellers between the two countries; investments in tourism infrastructure; exchange of vital tourism information and co-operation in technical exchanges and in eco-tourism and wildlife. Mr Ndiphiwe Ntuli, director: tourism support services with the Department of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, told Travel Now that initial emphasis would be on specific exchange programmes, as yet to be defined. "We still have to put the co-operation mechanisms in place into what is, at present, just a broad framework," he said, adding that the agreement was the next logical progression under a joint standing commission forged with Iran back in 1995 and covering a number of industries. He confirmed that Iran, as part of the Middle East, was being investigated as one of SA's emergent tourism markets with a view to future marketing initiatives (Iran has never featured in Statistics SA arrival statistics as a stand-alone market, the Middle East as a region contributing close to 15 000 tourists between Jan - June 1999). "We need to know and understand what the specific needs of this market are," he said, "so that we can start to inform our operators of opportunities deriving from that country." On the other side, Iran is specifically looking at developing its post-revolution tourism product and will be taking a close look at SA's experiences and emergence as a global tourism destination following the 1994 democratic elections. In addition, it is expected that Iran will be strongly tapping into SA's training expertise, with particular emphasis on the eco-tourism sector. (Elizabeth Sheridan)