The Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism, Employment and Labour received a briefing from the Department of Trade and Industry on its annual report, as well as expenditure for quarters one and two of the current financial year.
The committee heard that the volume of domestic travel and the revenue generated from tourism has increased recently. The department’s Director-General, Mr Victor Tharage, said 21 million visitors, which is the target for 2030, is a stretch target and that 15 million is a revised number.
Committee Chairperson Mr Mandla Rayi asked the department for clarity on the amount of money paid to Trevor Noah to market South Africa and if the money came from the fiscus. He also wanted more clarity on the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry’s decision to instruct the department not to transfer money to South African Tourism (SAT), when both houses of Parliament had supported the budget adjustment and had reports adopted on the matter. Other committee members asked questions on various matters, including wasteful expenditure, the growth of the domestic sector and annual targets.
The Deputy Minister, Mr Fish Mahlalela, clarified that the portfolio committee matter has nothing to do with the approval of the budget, but rather with governance stability at SAT. Parliamentary legal advisor Adv Shamara Ally clarified that budget adjustments within portfolios can only be finalised by the Standing Committee on Appropriations, a finance committee; there is still time to interact on the matter, she said.
“In an ideal world there would have been consultations between the SC and the PC on the matter. Any adjustments to be made could be made via the SC on Appropriations.” She said Mr Rayi could still write to the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Appropriations. Mr Rayi said the matter will be taken up on other platforms, outside the committee meeting.
Mr Mahlalela characterised the tourism industry as being competitive and requiring massive investment, especially for marketing. “For us to be in the market, we are contesting with developed countries in this space. Not only that, we are also contesting countries like Rwanda, Kenya and others. We need to invest money in marketing to be able to market South Africa, a lot of things need to be explained through marketing. That costs money.”
“That 21 million tourist arrivals target cannot be achieved through the SAT effort alone. We need an aggressive collaborative effort to go out and market SA. We have a potential to turn SA around but we need to invest in the SAT to achieve these targets,” Mr Mahlalela continued.
“The money paid to Mr Trevor Noah in an effort to market SA was a private initiative by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa. The funding of the advert to market South Africa was 100% privately funded; not a single cent came from government,” he explained. Mr Rayi welcomed this clarification.
The committee also heard that there has been double digit growth in some instances and huge increases in domestic tourism in terms of trips and holiday trips. Revenue from domestic tourism has increased, and the volume from other markets is also rising.
“We want to make sure that we put SA on the map in order to assist in the fight against poverty and unemployment and we want to create better lives and opportunities for our people,” Mr Mahlalela said.
Sibongile Maputi
15 November 2023
Arrange a tour