/ 9 February 1996

Facelift for tourism

Business believes it has the answer to marketing tourism in South Africa, reports Karen Harverson

South Africa is the fastest-growing tourist destination in the world but this is due more to its flavour of the month status initiated by the 1994 elections than its marketing activities overseas.

With a shoe-string budget of R48-million for 1996 down from R56-million the year before Satour is hard-pressed to compete with other long-haul destinations such as Australia, which boasts a budget of more than R270-million purely for marketing the country internationally.

So how can Satour, on its paltry budget, attract the best marketing expertise for the job, most of which is in the private sector?

Business thinks it has the answers and last week formed a unified body, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), aimed at advancing the restructuring of South Africa s tourism industry.

One of its first tasks will be to lobby government to increase Satours funding for marketing.

Newly elected chairman of the TBCSA David Wigley said the council will focus on the urgent need for infrastructural development to sustain tourism growth, recommendations to reduce crime, international strategies to market South Africa, as well as strategies for working with labour and the community in pursuing the overall tourism vision.

He said tourism, acknowledged as the world s largest earner of foreign exchange, had enormous potential for growth in South Africa where it was only the fourth-largest component of gross national product, at 3%, against an average 10% in the rest of the world.

Executive director of Satour Mavuso Msimang welcomes the new business council, which he said would contribute to decisions on how Satour markets South Africa. Business councils exist in all the countries that are really serious about tourism and we plan to become fully involved in initiatives of the new council.

Tourism chief director Mike Fabricius of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism says the Business Council should have an input on how South Africa would be marketed.

However, private sector companies promote their own interests and there will always be a need to generically posiition South Africa as a global tourist attraction, through a national marketing organisation.

Fabricius says the issue of funding is always in the spotlight. It is my firm belief that tourism should receive an adequate budget once the process is finalised. The challenge at this moment is to accommodate visitors coming to the country.

However, in the medium and longer term, the interest in South Africa will decrease, and especially then the marketing function will be essential.

Msimang concurs, adding that the changes in South Africa have opened a small window of opportunity for increased tourism. But we need to market ourselves aggressively if we are sustain and increase the number of visitors to the country.

He says growth in overseas visitors has risen from 700 000 in 1994 to an estimated one million tourists in 1995. Satour has set a target of getting 3,2-million overseas visitors by the year 2000, which is achievable if certain changes are implemented.

One of the first initiatives that Msimang wants to implement is flattening the management structure of Satour from its current pyramid structure of 14 levels down to six levels.

The current public service type structure of Satour is totally unsuitable because it creates long lines of communication and bureaucracy. You literally have to climb the ladder to get an answer.

This suggestion of flattening management was first made by consultants Ernest and Young, which drew up a number of recommendations for Satour in March 1995. These have been accepted by the new board of Satour but no changes can be implemented until approved at government level and this is the glitch holding up change at the organisation.

Last month, government told Satour it would need to consult further with the Public Services Commission before structural changes could be made or Satour could risk losing some its revenue.

Our flexibility to reshuffle posts is limited as long as Satour is being viewed through a civil servant type perspective, comments Msimang.

But why is Satour looking to make changes before the White Paper on tourism due out at the end of April has been approved? Msimang feels whatever else the White Paper will contain, it will certainly confirm that a national organisation must market South Africa internationally.

Whether that body is a reformed or renamed Satour is not the point, if we get changes on the go now they will be taking on an organisation in better shape to do that task than it is now.

Also, everyone knows changes need to happen and the longer it takes, the worse the effect on morale, he adds.

So what can be done in the meantime? Msimang sees the beefing up of international operations as vital, despite the lack of finance. Were hoping to increase our 14 international offices by making use of the many international offices of Department of Foreign Affairs.

Also on the cards are partnership ventures with the private sector. Were negotiating with certain businesses as to whether they could sponsor some of our activities in exchange for some promotion of their product overseas.

However, private sector companies promote their own interests and there will always be a need to generically position South Africa as a global tourist attraction, through a national marketing organisation.

Fabricius says the issue of funding is always in the spotlight. It is my firm belief that tourism should receive an adequate budget once the process is finalised. The challenge at this moment is to accommodate visitors coming to the country.

However, in the medium and longer term, the interest in South Africa will decrease, and especially then the marketing function will be essential.

Msimang concurs, adding that the changes in South Africa have opened a small window of opportunity for increased tourism. But we need to market ourselves aggressively if we are to sustain and increase the number of visitors to the country.

He says growth in overseas visitors has risen from 700 000 in 1994 to an estimated one million tourists in 1995. Satour has set a target of getting 3,2-million overseas visitors by the year 2000, which is achievable if certain changes are implemented.

One of the first initiatives that Msimang wants to implement is flattening the management structure of Satour from its current pyramid structure of 14 levels down to six.

The public service-type structure of Satour is totally unsuitable because it creates long lines of communication and bureaucracy. You literally have to climb the ladder to get an answer.

This suggestion of flattening management was made by consultant Ernest & Young, which drew up recommendations for Satour in March 1995. These have been accepted by the new board of Satour but no changes can be implemented until approved at government level.

Last month, government told Satour it would need to consult further with the Public Services Commission before structural changes could be made or Satour could risk losing some of its revenue.

Our flexibility to reshuffle posts is limited as long as Satour is being viewed through a civil servant-type perspective, says Msimang.

But why is Satour looking to make changes before the White Paper on tourism due out at the end of April has been approved? Msimang feels whatever else the White Paper will contain, it will certainly confirm that a national organisation must market South Africa internationally.

Whether that body is a reformed or renamed Satour is not the point, if we get changes on the go now they will be taking on an organisation in better shape to do that task than it is now.

Also, everyone knows changes need to happen and the longer it takes, the worse the effect on morale, he adds.

So what can be done in the meantime? Msimang sees the beefing up of international operations as vital, despite the lack of finance. Were hoping to increase our 14 international offices by making use of the many international offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Also on the cards are partnership ventures with the private sector. Were negotiating with certain businesses on whether they could sponsor some of our activities in exchange for some promotion of their product overseas.