By Guy Stehlik, Founder and CEO of BON Hotels
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently called tourism the jewel in South Africa’s crown. He is right. It is a jewel. However, somebody needs to ask the obvious question. Who has been doing the polishing?
Africa’s Travel Indaba turns forty this year and Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has done something refreshing. She has looked at four decades of the same model and said out loud what the industry has been thinking for years: it is time for a change. Her plan to bring private-sector partnership and sponsorship into the event from 2027 is welcome news.
However, the private sector needs to put something on the table too. We already fund the marketing through our levies. We are not opposed to doing more. We’re ready to step up and help build a world-class showcase. However, a real partnership works both ways. With President Ramaphosa confirmed to open the event, this is the moment to have that honest conversation. Here is what I believe we need to see from the state to make this work.
1. Recognise the Domestic Backbone
It is easy to get caught up in the glamour of international arrivals and trophy leisure destinations, but the real engine of our tourism economy lies in places like Bloemfontein, Richards Bay, Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg, Empangeni and the outlying towns and commercial hubs beyond our major cities. Mid-market hotels are the lifeblood of commerce, conferencing and business at large. These properties do not get the same red-carpet treatment as our leisure hubs. These hotels clearly demonstrate their resilience to micro- and macro-socioeconomic factors, and they operate almost entirely on private sector grit. Entire towns and tourism ecosystems are being struck off the map as a result of municipal failures. We need clear plans from government on how municipal services and infrastructure will be prioritised to support these regional economic hubs.
2. Incentivise Growth Corridors
Once we have protected what we already have, we need to talk about growth. The Minister wants private partners to help carry the load and we are ready to do so. Look at models like the Club Med development as a blueprint for what happens when the state provides the right concessions and the private sector builds the engine. We need to resurrect Tourism Investment Zones where the state offers tax or sustainability rebates for hotels that invest in their own green infrastructure and develop properties in defined spaces earmarked for incentivised growth. If the private sector is expected to help the fiscus, we need complete transparency on where the government’s responsibility ends and our investment begins.
3. Level the Playing Field
Growth corridors and investment zones will mean very little if the playing field remains unfair. For years the formal hotel sector has shouldered the primary cost of our country’s international marketing through our tourism levies. As the Minister seeks more sponsorship and partnership, it is only fair that we finally bring the short-term rental market into a fair regulatory framework. Everyone who profits from South Africa’s brand should contribute to its upkeep and marketing. Progress in this area would be a massive signal of good faith to the formal industry and would greatly strengthen our marketing position abroad and across the continent.
4. Transparency on Safety
A fair playing field is also a safe one. The call for partnership must extend to safety where the private sector is currently filling massive gaps. We see private sector led patrols like those in the Kruger Lowveld stepping in because the state resources are simply not there. We need facts rather than generalities. How many tourism monitors are actually deployed and where are they located? If the industry is being asked to fund more of the showcase, we must have a transparent and integrated security framework that we can proudly market to the world.
5. Fix the Dysfunction in our Marketing Entities
None of the above will matter if the entities responsible for marketing our country to the world remain dysfunctional. When the Minister first took office, she showed real fighting spirit by halting the Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal. That was a necessary and welcome intervention. We now need permanent stability and absolute commercial competence within these marketing entities. If the industry is going to partner with government and increase our financial contributions, we must have absolute confidence that these bodies are run with corporate efficiency and clear accountability.
Indaba has the potential to be a professional powerhouse where real, direct business gets done – not just a reunion of familiar faces. The Minister has shown her fighting spirit before, and there is every reason to believe she has what it takes to make this happen. That same energy, focused alongside the President on these specific priorities, is what the moment calls for. The ask is not a complicated one. A seat at the table, straight answers on what the state is delivering, and a partner willing to pull in the same direction. Get that right, and this jewel will shine brighter than it ever has before.
