This new leadership phase marks a pivotal moment for inbound tourism to South Africa, says SATSA CEO David Frost, whocommended Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille and the former Interim SA Tourism Board chaired by Tim Harris on the appointment process, which has been collaborative and thorough.

Frost further thanked Minister de Lille and the Interim Board for their efforts in laying the groundwork for the unprecedented level of cooperation and dialogue between the private and public sector that has flourished under their stewardship to showcase the very best South Africa has to offer the world.

“We also look forward to working closely with Chairperson Makhosazana Khanyile, new CEO Nombulelo Guliwe and the rest of the skilled board to showcase the immense opportunities for tourism within South Africa. Our mutual goal is to substantially increase visitor numbers, spend and length of stay with a view to realising the Tourism sector’s overall contribution to the country’s economic growth and job creation. With strong leadership and an aligned strategy between private and public sector, we believe this can be achieved,” says Frost.

Among the new board appointees are Ikaneng (Oupa) Ephraim Pilane, also SATSA’s chairperson, and Maija de Rijk-Uys, MD of Go2Africa, a member of SATSA.

“Both Oupa and Maija bring a wealth of experience and insights from the tourism industry to their roles. This will be crucial as private sector works closely with South African Tourism to elevate the country’s profile on the global stage,” Frost adds. 

SATSA believes this newly appointed board and CEO, with its diversity and expertise, will take the entity from strength to strength as we grow the tourism industry to become an even greater contributor to South Africa’s GDP and employment. 

Reaffirming SATSA’s commitment to working closely with the newly appointed board and CEO, Frost concluded: “This is our chance to implement strategies that will drive sustainable growth, improve the visitor experience, and ensure that the benefits of tourism are widely distributed across our communities.  We wish them all the best as they get down to the task ahead.”

Ends

About SATSA

SATSA is the unified voice of the inbound tourism industry in Southern Africa and represents the private sector trade associations in five SADC countries. Our mission is to support the sustainable growth of travel and tourism to and within Southern Africa. For more information, visit satsa.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Celine Patterson

celine@bigambitions.co.za

Tel: +27 71 899 3780

The long-awaited appointment of the board and CEO are an important step forward in the growth of South Africa’s tourism industry, which is a key driver of job creation and economic growth in South Africa, says FEDHASA National Chair, Rosemary Anderson.

“We have been particularly encouraged by the Minister and Interim Board’s commitment to private-sector collaboration. The tourism industry is a complex ecosystem, and we can only achieve our full potential by working together. We are confident that the new board and CEO will be strong advocates for the industry and will work closely with us to develop and implement effective strategies to grow tourism,” Anderson adds.

FEDHASA is particularly interested in working with the new SA Tourism leadership on the following priorities:

• Marketing South Africa as a preferred tourist destination: We need a targeted and effective marketing campaign that showcases the uniqueness of our country to the world.
• Improving the visitor experience: We must work together to ensure that all visitors to South Africa have a positive and memorable experience. This includes improving visa processing times, enhancing their safety, and improving air access.
• Growing domestic tourism: The domestic tourism market is a vital source of revenue for the hospitality sector, and we need to do more to encourage South Africans to travel within their own country.
• Creating jobs: The tourism industry is a major job creator, particularly for the youth and women. Only by working together will we be able to create more opportunities for unemployed South Africans.

“FEDHASA is confident that the new SA Tourism leadership shares FEDHASA’s priorities and is committed to focussing on these in collaboration with the private sector. We look forward to working with them to make the tourism industry an even greater success story for South Africa,” Anderson concludes.

Ends

About FEDHASA 

Founded in 1949, a restructured and transformed FEDHASA (Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa) is recognised by Government as the official representative of the hospitality industry of South Africa. With industry support, FEDHASA remains the umbrella association for hotels, restaurants, conference centres, caterers, self-catering accommodation, home hosting establishments (B&Bs and guest houses), clubs, taverns, shebeens, suppliers and trainers, consultants and service providers to the hospitality industry. For more information, visit https://fedhasa.co.za/  

For media enquiries, please contact:

Celine Patterson

celine@bigambitions.co.za      

Tel: +27 71 899 3780

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY FEDHASA

TOURISM MINISTER LINDIWE SISULU AND PRIVATE SECTOR

HOLD URGENT MEETING TO ADDRESS SA’S RETURN TO THE RED LIST

PRETORIA, 26 NOVEMBER 2021 – Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu convened an urgent meeting with tourism private-sector stakeholders on Friday 26 November to address proactively how private and public sector could collaborate to mitigate the effects on the tourism sector of the travel bans instituted this week against South Africa due to the discovery of the new variant.

The stakeholders outlined how the Red List announcement and consequent knee-jerk reaction from other governments had impacted their existing and future business as South Africa enters its peak inbound international tourism period.

“Today’s engagement was the first of many we will be holding as a public-private tourism sector War Room to deal with crises such as that experienced this week, as well as legacy issues that hinder the extent to which Tourism can contribute to South Africa’s economy,” says Hon. Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Acknowledging the positive impact of the joint approach by community of tourism stakeholders preserving domestic tourism, Minister Sisulu said:

“Our War Room will be meeting on a regular basis to roll out and follow up on practical actions adopted by industry stakeholders to deal proactively with the obstacles and crises that our tourism and hospitality sector faces; with the immediate priority to ensure that we preserve domestic tourism over this festive season to secure the livelihoods our sector supports.”

While we await scientific certainty surrounding this new variant, the impact to Brand South Africa and the deep tourism value chain has been devastating.

The immediate priority is to protect our domestic tourism over the festive season by instituting measured regulations that help to stem the spread of the new variant, while safeguarding the industry’s ability to operate during the festive season so that we can save livelihoods and keep the doors of tourism and hospitality businesses open.

To this end, private-sector tourism stakeholders provided a number of alternatives, including among others, reducing the size of indoor gatherings, expanding curfew and prioritising vaccination of South Africans to mitigate the impact on South Africa’s healthcare system.

Says Rosemary Anderson, National Chairperson of FEDHASA: “There is no question that South Africans need to go out and get vaccinated as a matter of urgency. To be locked down on a semi-regular basis and banned for international travel because of our advanced genomic sequencing capability and low vaccination rates cannot continue. We depend on tourism for jobs and livelihoods.”

Further, as we head into the festive season with a rising infection rate and the prospect of local lockdowns which directly impact the hospitality sector, Anderson calls on South Africans to do everything in their power to stem the spread of a fourth wave.

“We simply cannot have a repeat of December 2020 where restaurants and hospitality businesses bore the brunt of COVID regulations making travel and restaurant patronage unappealing and difficult. Our industry has had to endure being thrust from wave to wave for the past 20 months and it simply isn’t sustainable to keep businesses open and livelihoods intact. It is up to every South African to do their part and help us keep our doors open by complying with the protocols and getting their #jab4tourism,” Anderson concludes.

It is up to every South African to play their part in helping to keep the doors of tourism and hospitality open by adhering to the health and hygiene protocols that have been established and by getting vaccinated so that this industry, which supports 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs, may get back to business without the ongoing spectre of lockdowns and international travel bans.

Attending the session were key tourism industry associations, including TBCSA, FEDHASA, SATSA, SAACI and Cape Town Tourism, as well as industry stakeholders who had been involved in the previous lobby for South Africa to be removed from the UK’s red list.

Professor Marc Mendelson, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital provided a scientific perspective on what the next steps would be to determining the extent to which vaccines would be effective against the new variant.

ENDS

About FEDHASA

Founded in 1949, a restructured and transformed FEDHASA (Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa) is recognised by Government as the official representative of the hospitality industry of South Africa. With industry support, FEDHASA remains the umbrella association for hotels, restaurants, conference centres, caterers, self-catering accommodation, home hosting establishments (B&Bs and guest houses), clubs, taverns, shebeens, suppliers and trainers, consultants and service providers to the hospitality industry. For more information, visit https://fedhasa.co.za/

Issued by Big Ambitions Marketing PTY Ltd.

Claire Lathe

Email: claire@bigambitions.co.za

Tel: 084 245 2189

In a meeting convened on Monday, 27 September, leading South African scientists presented the latest pandemic data to the UK’s Joint Biosecurity Centre in a virtual meeting.  South African scientists, led by Nicholas Crisp, acting director general of the Department of Health, set out compelling evidence to address the key criteria applied by UK government scientists in advising ministers on designations under the traffic light system.

South African representatives addressed South Africa’s current infection rate, which has now fallen to a fraction of that seen in the UK and that many amber-listed European countries.  They also discussed the Beta variant, which has not been seen in the data in South Africa since early August, having been eradicated by the more transmissible Delta variant.  They also provided information on South Africa’s genomic sequencing capability, which ranks 23rd in the world for the number of genomes sequenced and published.  This puts South Africa above Portugal, South Korea, Greece, Russia and China.  In the last 90 days South Africa sequenced 5,215 genomes which were uploaded onto global databases. In the same time frame Egypt, which was removed from the UK red list ten days ago– uploaded just 5. Oman, which was also removed from the UK red list, uploaded just 90 sequences. 

David Frost, CEO of SATSA, said:

“The hastily-convened meeting between UK and South African scientists this week has merely confirmed what every South African has known for a month – that there isn’t a shred of scientific evidence to support the UK’s continued travel ban.

“The UK is now proposing to take a further 10 days to deliberate on the information, meanwhile jobs will be lost and businesses destroyed.  If the data supports our removal from the travel red list, the UK has a moral obligation to act now before we lose another summer season.”

Lord Hain, former Labour cabinet minister and renowned anti-apartheid campaigner, said:

“Boris Johnson cannot have assessed the detail. His continued red-listing of South Africa is ludicrous and contradicts the science.  South Africa has a low infection rate: just a tenth of the infections in the UK and a similarly low fraction compared with much of Europe.  It has only one variant in circulation, exactly the same variant as in the UK: Delta.  Its third wave peaked in July and it is about to enter the summer peak tourist season with British tourists – the biggest group of visitors – desperate to enjoy the country’s unbeatable visitor opportunities.  Why does just about everyone else in Europe, like Germany, France, and Holland, allow visits to and from South Africa and Britain does not?  Tell us why Boris Johnson?  It makes no sense whatsoever.”