Tourism is a major contributor to South Africa's gross domestic product, GDP. It brings foreign currency into the country and this in turn creates jobs. Job creation and dealing with high unemployment has become one of the biggest challenges and is currently the biggest threat to our young democracy. With one in four of our active population out of work, it is surprising that tourism has not been given the priority and emphasis it deserves in the President's state of the nation address on the one hand and the National Development Plan on the other.
Maybe the Minister and the Deputy Minister could spend a bit more time convincing the Cabinet of the importance of tourism and how, if given more funding, they could increase the inflow of foreign visitors and encourage our citizens to spend more time at home, enjoying our beautiful resorts. If they do so, every 16 tourists could create one job. If we can reach that magic projection of 11 million tourists, this could realise approximately 687 000 jobs. If tourists could be enticed to stay a bit longer and spend more money, we might be closer to the international average of 11 to 12 tourists per job.
Our landscape offers as much diversity as our population. We are further endowed with a vast range of fauna and flora, and numerous wildlife and insect species abound, all of which should create an awareness and desire in the curious and imaginative tourist to visit our shores.
Visitors to our country come here for a number of reasons and for far too long we have relied on arrivals at the airports and ports of entry to determine our statistics. This, unfortunately, does not tell us why the visitor arrived on our shores. Marketing South Africa as a tourist destination requires a focused, determined effort across all spheres of government. In the short time that I have served on this portfolio committee, I have been surprised by just how many arms of government are required to perform in order for all the efforts of tourism's aggressive marketing to pay off at the end of the day. A simple tick-the-box type arrival card at each point of arrival could easily determine the reasons for the visit, be it a holiday, family visit, business or convention. A similar arrangement could be made at hotels, guesthouses, lodges and game parks in order to pick up on domestic tourists and discover why they are there.
Setting key objectives and priorities is all very well, but if Home Affairs, for instance, cannot produce visas timeously or affordably, then all the department's efforts are wasted. Equally, if the SA Police Service cannot keep tourists safe, then they will not come here. The latest incidents of gender-based violence and violence in general all contribute to how South Africa is perceived internationally. Equally damaging has been the publicity around rhino poaching and the involvement of SA National Parks, SANParks, officials in those particularly merciless slaughters.
In the same vein, if tourists are expected to travel by bus or car, our roads should be safe and free of potholes. The vehicles they use should not be hindered by the unnecessary harassment of overzealous traffic cops who sometimes police our streets. Traffic police need to know and understand the licence conditions of tourist operators and hire car permits and not leave tourists stranded on the road when they pull them over.
The marketing of tourism is a highly competitive field worldwide, as each country attempts to lure tourists into their respective countries and to their attractions. This often involves cut-price travel packages, which discount accommodation, meals and transfers. However, tourists do not want compromised service levels. They want clean rooms, safe water, modern plumbing and fresh and affordable food. Here we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot. The World Cup was a case in point. Accommodation costs were excessively increased and food was priced according to dollar and pound values. Unfortunately, this practice has lingered and has only resulted in chasing away many potential domestic and international tourists. The V&A Waterfront right here in Cape Town is another example. It is far too expensive for people to go there - by this I mean the average person.
In the light of the above cross-cutting matters, Minister, it is imperative that you hold these and any other ministries to account through effective and accountable memorandums of understanding. I am aware that you have some such memorandums in existence, but what I have asked the portfolio committee is that we should be able to scrutinise those and hold the respective ministries accountable on your behalf.
Having served in the Portfolio Committee on Transport for some years, I am also concerned that certain anomalies still exist in the National Land Transport Act that have major repercussions for tourist operators. It has been three years since that Act passed through this House and no progress has been made to effect the amendments.
We have some of the most beautiful airports in the world, and some of them, like the Cape Town International Airport, have received awards like the Best Airport in Africa and the Skytrax Award for Service Excellence. These are all very nice, but if the Airports Company of SA cannot curtail the tariffs, we could be pricing ourselves out of the market. On the same topic, despite a marked reduction, baggage pilfering is still prevalent at our airports. We have the CCTV cameras and everything we need, but we cannot really put an end to it. Anyone who has ever experienced that invasion of privacy and lost their possessions can relate to this.
As you mentioned, Minister, we also need to sign off on the Airlift Strategy and Open Skies policy that we have determined.
One of the concerns I raised at the portfolio committee briefings related to possible duplication in the newly created International Marketing arm. Maybe I do not understand this. The department, as I understand, is going to set up these new tourist offices and they could and might be a duplication of the already existing embassies, offering a similar sort of arrangement for tourism and trade.
In a similar vein, we see provincial and local governments advertising regularly in our national newspapers, promoting their specific attractions. How are all these efforts co-ordinated and aligned, from a marketing and financial point of view, in order to achieve optimum benefit? I know that in the Western Cape Alan Winde chose to create a single Economic Development Agency for tourism destination marketing and trade and investment promotion, and by all accounts it seems to be working well.
In the DA we believe in creating jobs through the open opportunity society. To my mind, no better opportunity exists for bettering oneself than the Rural Tourism Strategy and the community tourism industry. Given the diversity of our population, our rich cultural and traditional heritage and the state's policy on the Green Economy Accord, one does not have to look far to see the potential for making exclusive African curios, developing traditional villages and eateries, opening homes for bed and breakfast facilities or providing tourist guides to cultural and heritage sites.
The Department of Trade and Industry provided grants for this purpose and, to this end, over 265 small businesses for accommodation were assisted - a commendable supplement to your department's effort to create sustainable jobs under the Expanded Public Works Programme. However, questions arise as to exactly how many jobs were created and how closely these are being assessed, monitored and sustained.
The Department of Tourism, despite its interdependency, is doing very well and has committed and passionate staff. However, it lags behind when it comes to transformation. With all the opportunities available to it to address the past, it has not seen fit to reinstate the very body formed to look after transformation in its field of operation. It is troubling that the Tourism Empowerment Council, Tecsa, is no longer functional and has not completed its task. This is how we understood it from one of the briefings we got. Tecsa was basically there to redress the racially unequal ownership of enterprise within the tourism sector. The reappointment of these councillors, which you have now reported on, is absolutely essential if you want to achieve what is laid down in your department's black economic empowerment, BEE, charter and an absolute must if you want to retain your office.
There is great controversy about cruise liners. I did have a chat with you about this, but I think another alternative would be to look into registering our own cruise liner. All the services that we would need to offer the liner would be provided by the port of entry and we would derive all the benefits directly.
In the Western Cape we have one of the most sought-after steam enthusiast rail routes, running from George to Knysna along the beautiful, scenic Garden Route. Part of this line was damaged during the floods of 2006. In order for the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe to start operating again, Transnet needs to hand over some lines and facilities to the Western Cape department of transport, which it agreed to in 2010. There has been a subsequent change of chief executive officer at Transnet and this issue has not been resolved. Revenue of millions of rands has been lost and hundreds of downstream beneficiaries have lost potential income.
Finally, let us come to the matter of the budget. Once more the department's budget has reflected very little growth - 2,07% in real terms. Despite this departments being responsible for the fastest growing industry in South Africa since the advent of our new democracy, and contributing 8,3% to the GDP, Treasury chose to give the Department of Tourism only 8,1% across all its programmes. This is not good, considering the department's restructuring and ambitious plans. It is noted, though, that as of 31 March some R270 million in cash and equivalents has been sitting in various bank accounts across the world. With Treasury, as hon members know, if you do not spend, or have the capacity to do so, you lose the money. You do not get it the following year. The question must be asked: Will this be enough to shape our future together? [Applause.]