The Department of Tourism and its entity, South African Tourism (SAT), appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Tourism yesterday to present their annual performance plans for the 2025/26 financial year and their strategic plans for 2025–2030, which aim to situate South Africa as a preferred and competitive tourism destination regionally, continentally and globally.
The department’s strategic plan seeks to, among other things, improve and diversify its tourism assets, products and facilities, to create a collaborative synergy between the Home Affairs department to create an enabling visa regime, to enhance the marketing of South African tourism routes locally and globally, and to create a safe, secure tourism environment that will promote South Africa as a tourism destination of choice regionally, continentally and globally.
The department emphasised that the strategy seeks to transform the sector and to digitise its platforms to ensure that it enhances and streamlines its services and offering. The department assured the committee that, unlike before, its strategy is aligned to the government’s Medium-Term Development Plan and will have the capacity to deliver the strategy as planned.
The department said it provides small, medium and micro enterprises in the sector with financial and non-financial capabilities required for them to become financially literate. It also helps these enterprises to develop business plans, market their products and run their businesses profitably while using digital technology to bring about transformation, inclusivity and beneficiation of youth, women and people living with disabilities in the tourism sector.
The committee Chairperson, Ms Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe, told the department to brief the committee on its partnership model with critical stakeholders and how it intends to use its marketing budget to leverage these partnerships and synergies to enhance its tourism assets, products and services. The briefing must also include a timeline on when it intends to implement its digital transformation strategy.
Ms Mnganga-Gcabashe also urged the department to set clear guidelines and milestones on when it intends to present the Tourism Amendment Act before the committee and when it will be introduced as an act of law.
In its presentation, SAT stated that its 2025–2030 strategic mission is to enhance South Africa’s profile as a leading regional, continental and global tourism destination. This it will achieve by ensuring that its platforms provide a high quality and inclusive visitor experience, while ensuring organisational excellence and a high-performance culture along with knowledge-driven marketing and quality assurance strategies.
Committee member Ms Haseena Ishmail wanted to know what SAT has done to address its qualified audit outcomes and the existing loopholes in its procurement processes. A SAT representative replied that, apart from strengthening its internal audit processes, SAT is receiving assistance from the Auditor-General’s office on how to prevent qualified audit outcomes in successive financial years.
On procurement, the representative stated that SAT has now adopted a digital procurement system to detect early procurement warnings and they have benchmarked this process to make it more efficient and effective.
Another committee member, Ms Altia Hlongo, asked SAT if it had adopted any new marketing strategies for small towns and rural areas to ensure inclusive growth in the sector. The SAT representative responded that it is often is difficult for the entity to host tourism conference and events in places that lack the necessary infrastructure for such things. This has been the main challenge in bringing events of this nature to these areas.
Meanwhile, committee member Mr Sello Maeco asked whether SAT has reviewed its tourism marketing strategies. “We have now moved from positioning South Africa as a tourist destination for mainly wildlife. We now marketing it as a destination for culture, adventure and sport,” the SAT representative said, adding, “And we have moved our marketing spend from traditional forms of marketing to digital marketing to make our products and assets more accessible and to cater mainly for young tourists, a growing segment of our market.”
Committee Chairperson Mnganga-Gcabashe reiterated that digital marketing should be at the core of SAT’s marketing strategy, given its efficiencies and its unparallel reach in disseminating tourism products and assets regionally, continentally and globally. She further stressed that SAT should use such a platform to counter misinformation and counter-narratives that impinge on the integrity of South Africa’s character and image.
Abel Mputing
23 April 2025
Arrange a tour