Hon House Chair and hon members, good afternoon. Hon members, the workshop that was conducted by the
Portfolio Committee on Tourism and the Portfolio Committee on Police with various public sector and private sector stakeholders on the scourge of crimes committed against tourists was a huge success. Some of the stakeholders that were present came across the length and breadth of the country representing voices of provinces and local municipalities. The private sector was represented by the Business Council of South Africa. It was also encouraging to witness the kin interests shown by tourist stakeholders and tourism scholars from across universities in the country. All stakeholders agreed that crime was a threat not only to tourism growth, but to the economic growth of the country as a whole.
The timing of the joint consultative workshop on tourism safety was conducted by Parliament as an oversight mechanism to ensure that we play our meaningful role in ensuring that government does what it has to do to ensure that programmes of government are implemented correctly and that the money spent is accounted for. The growth of the tourism sector, hon members, depends on the increase of tourism arrivals. However, the recent past the sector has suffered serious blow in the state of crimes against tourists which tarnishes the brand of South Africa as a tourist destination of choice from abroad and across the continent.
It is disheartening to note that tourism figures have continue to decline since the colloquium or the workshop which was convened in August. It should be noted that South Africa is losing its market share to country such as Kenya and Egypt. In addition to safety concerns, South Africa is losing its competitiveness to these countries while source market countries are issuing advisories concerns against South Africa, they are withdrawing advisory concerns against Kenya and Egypt. These two competing countries to South Africa have introduced measure such as e-visas and have simplified the process of processing visas and their airlift strategies are now put in place which put them at an advantage position to South Africa.
A number of observations were made from the inputs from various organisations which included: hon members, the emphasis that efforts must be put on tourism safety which does not only depends on government, but citizens must play a critical role and must ensure that awareness is at community level, to ensure that tourists are protected at all time, to ensure that citizens understand that when a tourist visits their area, they are boosting the local economy, they are also growing the gross domestic product, GDP, of the country, and they are creating jobs and putting bread on the table
of those who depend on the sector to ensure that they have a livelihood.
Majority cities which are tourists destinations across the country have now dedicated tourism safety officers, which are closely monitoring hot sports, to ensure that tourists feel safely in the country and therefore can enjoy the beauty and serenity of the country with its diverse people so that when they go back to their countries, they can tell them a good story of a South Africa that is safe ... Thank you. [Time expired.]