THE Department of Transport (DoT) urgently needs to introduce very liberal charter conditions before the end of this year, the parliamentary committee on transport in Cape Town was advised on Wednesday, September 5.

Representing the private sector tourism body, SATSA (Southern Africa Tourism Services Association) ceo, Michael Tatalias, painted a vision of how the 2010 World Cup could be the catalyst for changing the face of the tourism economy in the region for good. Points made included:

•The liberalised air access strategy accepted by cabinet last year needs a specific action timetable; • Priority should be given to renegotiating bilateral agreements in the key tourism source markets identified by SA Tourism (SAT). There was concern that insufficient resources at DoT were available to achieve this;

• SAA restructuring meant it was not growth-orientated on intercontinental routes. When the Paris service is discontinued next month, it will have cut back operations to only six of the 25 important overseas source markets SAT has identified. Open skies should be introduced as soon as possible on the abandoned routes;

• Seasonality has led to high prices, havoc with skills development and inhibited capital investment. The remedy again was liberalised air access and specifically cultivating the charter airlines. DoT should not just tolerate charters, it should be actively encouraging them;

• South African tourism could be set back by rampant undercutting after 2010 when numbers go back down. Long-term numbers of overseas visitors must be built up before the event;

• With 2010 looming it is too late to renegotiate bilaterals now. The encouragement of charters with appropriate freedoms represented the only solution for 2010. It needed to be in place by the end of this year so that the industry could package in time for release at Indaba 2008;

• Many SADC countries were against air liberalisation but they wanted a share of the 2010 action. The recent ComMARK report (Clear Skies over Southern Africa) presented compelling benefits for open skies over the region that would flow through to these countries’ economies. A properly handled 2010 could be a catalyst to leverage a situation that would leave a legacy where passenger numbers would mean the region, in effect, would have a world cup every year.