The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) will focus primarily on six strategic pillars over the next three years:

• Destination marketing
• Advocacy and influence
• Thought leadership
• Transformation
• Collaboration
• Key enablers.

The TBCSA highlighted these key focus areas during the National Tourism Stakeholder Forum Meeting at NH Johannesburg Sandton late last week.

Ntokozo Mthombeni, Operations and Project Manager for the TBCSA, said the six pillars were created to address prevailing issues in the country’s tourism sector:

• Intensifying domestic tourism
• Tourist safety
• The current visa regime
• Emerging issues around the reliability of Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS).

Destination marketing

The TBCSA has engaged extensively with South African Tourism about renewing their current memorandum of understanding (MoU), including allocation of the collected tourism levy.

During these engagements, the TBCSA board emphasised the need for a stronger working relationship with South African Tourism and collaboration for the sector to reach its desired targets by 2030: 16 million international and 12 million domestic arrivals.

“Domestic tourism is identified as a key driver of tourism growth. Therefore, associations and tourism product owners are encouraged to develop campaigns and to find ways to make domestic travel more affordable and accessible,” Mthombeni said.

A North West University study of the Trevor Noah campaign, exploring the impact of this celebrity-based online short video marketing strategy on its target market and the country’s value proposition, revealed viewers are highly likely to engage in South African tourism activity.

Focused on collecting data from America (South Africa’s top source market in 2022/23, according to Statistics South Africa), the study also revealed the following about most respondents:

• The video stimulates desire to travel to South Africa and enjoy the country’s beautiful scenery for at least 70% of these potential visitors
• South Africa is viewed as a safe place to visit (considered as safe as other destinations) although the country has a dangerous reputation
• Security is not a concern when travelling to South Africa.

“Although the current short video did not address security directly, Trevor Noah’s endorsement of the destination, based on his credibility as a celebrity, inferred some sense of trust in South Africa as a tourism destination,” Mthombeni said.

Thought leadership

The TBCSA has embarked on an initiative to create a Tourism Knowledge Hub for all tourism-related information, which will include statistics, case studies, research papers and sector-related information.

Working with advisory service BDO, the TBCSA is currently finalising a 30-year review of the tourism industry, which will be released in September.

BDO will also release the latest iteration of the Tourism Business Index, which is a report measuring the health of the tourism industry and tourism businesses in South Africa.

The TBCSA is also in talks with Visa to provide data and insights on the tourism sector, which will be integrated with BDO’s proposed Tourism Industry Monitor pulse dashboard and reporting with predictive modelling capabilities.

Collaboration

The TBCSA’s existing MoU with the Youth Employment Service (YES) also supports implementation of the Youth4Tourism initiative.

“The partnership with YES has evolved to become an all-encompassing collaboration with various other stakeholders including Business Unity South Africa, the Harambee youth employment accelerator and Collective X – a non-profit aimed at driving national digital skills transformation,” Mthombeni highlighted.

Transformation

Additionally, the TBCSA has developed a close working relationship with the South African Township & Village Tourism Association (SATOVITO) to ensure rural and township communities benefit from the economic and social aspects of tourism development.

There are plans to increase support and expand community engagements through SATOVITO and for the association to have “a voice at the table” as a member of the TBCSA.

The TBCSA is also compiling a concept document on its transformation status. Emerging data will enable the TBCSA to develop a transformation matrix to systematically and accurately measure transformation across various indices such as ownership, skills development and capacity building and community beneficiation.

Key enablers:

• Ease of access

  Visas:

  The TBCSA has appointed Genesis Analytics to assist with defining pain points in South Africa’s tourist visa regime, in general and specific terms, for Chinese and Indian tourists.

  The TBCSA and Genesis Analytics, in collaboration with the Department of Tourism as well as the Presidency and Operation Vulindlela, are set to implement the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme from January 2025.

Air transport: The TBCSA, representing air transport services associations such as the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa and Airlines Association of Southern Africa, is part of a private-sector delegation engaging with ATNS in clarifying certain issues and finding solutions to the challenges that have restricted aircraft landings and take-offs at many airport runways across the country.

“While there is no current timeline on the resolutions of these challenges, discussions are ongoing and there is a collated effort to keep affected association members updated and informed on the progress of interventions,” Mthombeni said.

• Safety and security initiatives

  The TBCSA, in conjunction with members, has identified high-risk hotspots threatening tourist safety. Strategic interventions are being considered by the TBCSA board, including collaborative funding of projects and interventions that will help address the problem.

  These interventions include installation of CCTV and surveillance systems, mobile apps to assist rapid response mechanisms and supporting state-led visible policing, safety and security initiatives.

“The industry continues to show a positive trajectory in post-COVID recovery. However, tourism safety, easing visa restrictions and the emerging issues around ATNS are of utmost concern in the private sector. Collaboration and strategic partnerships continue to bear fruit while more can always be done,” Mthombeni said.