In just 10 years, South Africa has been able to build itself into a top-drawer tourist destination that is currently outperforming every other market in the world, according to Southern Sun Hotels managing director Helder Pereira.
Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg recently, Pereira identified the turning point in the industry’s fortunes as the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11 2001.
“South Africa was now seen as safe in relation with other destinations around the world,” said Pereira. Asia was seen as a risky destination after the Bali bomb blast in 2002, he said, and had also suffered following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).
Earlier this year, South African Tourism (Satour) chief executive Cheryl Carolus said South Africa was the world’s fastest-growing tourist destination.
“We [South Africa] are no longer fighting for the crumbs,” she said. “We want to ensure that South Africa comes out on top as a holiday destination. The past decade has been an example to the world. Our country has joined the global fraternity and we are increasingly being seen as an attractive, safe and value-for-money destination.”
The question now, said Moeketsi Mosola, Satour’s chief operating officer, was how to deliver against the marketing promise in a sustainable, long-term way. “We have to keep up the good work done so far,” said Mosola. “We are busy with a study at the moment to determine the status of South African tourism as a competitive industry.”
Satour’s study is the first of its kind in South Africa and will identify major gaps in the local tourism industry. The study has already identified weaknesses and new markets that the country should be targeting.
Mosola said Satour was proud of South Africa’s performance, given the gloom surrounding tourism elsewhere in the world.
“Consumer confidence worldwide is down,” confirmed Rob O’Hanlon, a partner in Deloitte Travel Tourism and Leisure. “And when that happens, people tend to travel less. An unprecedented convergence of factors has served to unnerve travellers and investors alike.”
The number of international tourists who travelled last year fell by 1,2% from the 2002 figure, the World Tourism Organisation said in January, reporting the biggest decline in its history. The number of tourists totalled 694-million, the organisation said, attributing the decline to the war in Iraq, the Sars outbreak in Asia and the weak state of the world economy.
In contrast, total international arrivals in South Africa grew by 1,8% last year, Pereira said. This was significantly lower than the 10,9% growth experienced in 2002, but he emphasised that tourism was an export industry that was sensitive to global market conditions.
As recently as the late 1990s, South Africa was struggling with its own global image, being widely seen as an unsafe destination. Apart from its reputation as the world’s violent crime capital, terrorist bombings in and around Cape Town posed a major threat to South African tourism.
In the five years between 1997 to 2002, the total number of international arrivals grew by only 8,4%. Growth for 2001 was just 1,5%.
The turning point, said Pereira, was the September 11 attacks, which transformed perceptions. Total international visitor arrivals to South Africa in 2002 increased by 10,9% to exceed six million for the first time.
“Despite the many challenges of the industry in 2003,” he said, “the South African hotel sector’s occupancy of 68% outperformed all the key global regions including the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”
However, he added that the country’s hospitality industry still faced challenges if it aimed to build on the good work of the past two years. These include the dramatic drop in visitor figures during the off-season — between April and August.
“The winter market shows great potential,” he said. “In fact, our neighbours, such as Botswana, have their peak season in winter when gaming is at its best and you can see animals much better.”
Pereira also warned that the lack of big events during 2003, such as the Earth Summit in 2002, was something to watch out for. “We should be hosting more of these events to draw more people to South Africa.”
He added that the country’s large variety of good hotel products gave South Africa a competitive edge among developing countries.
He said the South African domestic market was still the base of South Africa’s tourism industry. The local hospitality industry should bear this in mind