It’s time for a ‘Tourism Phakisa’ that properly recognises the economic value of the tourism sector across government departments.

This was the message TBCSA CEO, Mmatšatši Ramawela, delivered at a discussion that aimed to inform the first review of the Tourism Policy Framework since the 1996 White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa.

Opening the session, facilitator, Shamilla Chettiar, DDG: Policy and Knowledge Services, said the world had changed significantly since 1996. She said while the 1996 White Paper had been appropriate for the time, a new policy framework was needed to respond to changes in the industry. This point was made by Ramawela too: “We need to change course. The global social economic landscape has changed and so has the business of travel and tourism.” She added that policy needed to change to reflect changes in the industry.

Operation Phakisa is a national government initiative to fast track the implementation of solutions to critical development issues. According to Ramawela, the tourism sector should have its own similar initiative because tourism is the only sector that has shown growth globally for six consecutive years. For this reason, she said, all departments should consider tourism when making policy and asked for a pronouncement to be made in the new policy to address how tourism could be linked to all government departments.

Ramawela highlighted the Departments of Transport and Home Affairs in particular as having an impact on the tourism sector. Pointedly, she suggested that if tourism was mainstreamed across government departments, the immigration regulations that hurt tourism arrivals could have been avoided. She highlighted the US, which she said had relaxed visa regulations because of the value of tourism. Chris Zweigenthal, CE of the Airlines Association of South Africa, said that the issue of the unabridged birth certificate still had not been addressed.

Ramawela said it was “worrying” that tourism was not regarded as an economic sector. “We are simply called an industry. Is it fair?” she asked, pointing out that tourism was a major contributor to gross domestic product. “Tourism is everybody’s business.”

Zweigenthal and Ramawela called for better integration between tourism and transport. Zweigenthal suggested that air services needed to be complemented with better links to road and rail networks. Unathi Mntonintshi, Director: Nehemiah Consulting Engineering, suggested that airport taxes could be ring-fenced so that the money collected could find its way to the aviation or tourism industries.

Some of the other issues considered during the session included the development of new platforms such as Uber and Airbnb. Ramawela said that while the industry should embrace new developments, those platforms needed to be regulated and suggested that there should be some level of control to ensure a level playing field.

Yoliswa Mashilwane, Head of Public Policy at Uber, said the challenge governments faced was that regulation had not kept up with technological advancement. For example, she said there was no legislation recognising transport hailing platforms. She said the company had made submissions for legislation that recognised e-hailing as a standalone segment within public transport.

Closing the session, Chettiar said key policy imperatives that the department regarded as non-negotiable included the need to drive transformation, responsible tourism and skills development.

The discussion was attended by members of the tourism industry, represented by various associations, as well as representatives from the Department of Tourism at national and provincial levels. Officials from the Departments of Transport and Home Affairs were also in attendance. Chettiar said that following the session, a discussion document would be circulated to members of the industry for further input. She anticipated that it would be circulated in about two weeks’ time.