The reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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ExFmem
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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

Post by ExFmem »

Just a quick second opinion on SAA - we have flown them many times, including this past Sept/Oct trip, and really find nothing to complain about. Their personnel are delightful (as are ALL S.Africans we have interacted with 0/0 ), the food is as good as other airlines, and their prices, compared to Delta, for First Class are a no-brainer. (Delta was around $11,500 - 12,000 PER TICKET, while SAA was around $7,000) Anyway, just my 2 cents worth.


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Richprins
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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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\O Ex!

The problem is that officials use SAA to steal money and buy votes. So unsustainable. :no:


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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From here SAA is much more expensive than many European companies, not to talk about the Middle East ones.


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Flutterby
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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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For us too Lis. SAA is always more expensive than other airlines!! 0-


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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Tourists marked by organised crooks
The fact that criminals know that a vehicle is driven by a tourist is baffling police in the province.
7 hours ago
Brig Leonard Hlathi, the provincial police spokesman.

Image

GRASKOP – “How do they source this information?” asked SAPS spokesman Brig Leonard Hlathi. “It has become evident there is a syndicate operating in the Lowveld region orchestrating these robberies.”

This follows another two incidents of holidaymakers being targeted in the area. A German couple was robbed on their way to Graskop on Monday night. The shaken foreigners disclosed that two armed men in a silver vehicle forced them onto the back seat of their vehicle and drove them to a secluded area.

“The robbers took all their electronic devices, German identity documents and other items worth an estimated R47 000 and abandoned them in a bush, under strict instructions to stay there for 40 minutes,” Hlati said.

In a separate incident last Friday at 20:30, a couple from the Netherlands and friends were travelling to their booked place, when they noticed a silver Polo Vivo following them, according to Hlathi.



After the masked men instructed them to stop by flashing their lights, they approached the tourists’ vehicle and forced them to hand over their valuables.

“They had a speedpoint with them and verified the pin codes of the tourists,” Hlathi said. “If you look at the reported cases, it is always the same vehicles involved and the tourists are always taken and released in the bush,” Hlathi said.

The police are patrolling these main routes, but due to limited resources, cannot be present everywhere.
“There are tourist monitors deployed to look after these foreigners. We must work together to address this. There are people who know what is going on who must come forward.”

https://lowvelder.co.za/515805/tourists ... ed-crooks/


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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Minister concerned as safety, security issues take toll on tourism stats
Nov 30 2019 09:00 Carin Smith
1m 39s



President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear that South Africa's tourism industry is open for business, at the closing of Africa's Travel Indaba concluded on 4 May.




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Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-



Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane is concerned about a 2.1% (164 989) decrease in tourist arrivals to 7 562 743 for the period from January to September 2019.

A major factor impacting the decrease in arrivals has been concerns around safety and security.

The decline was mostly influenced by a decrease in arrivals from Australasia and Europe, with a decrease of 5% and 3.9% respectively, according to data released by Statistics SA earlier this week.

At the same time, the minister is pleased with an increase in tourist arrivals from the Middle East (4.2%); Asia (1.3%), Central and South America (0.3%) and North America (0.2%).

In her view, it is a good indicator that more focused and aggressive marketing strategies in these regions will yield positive results.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), told Fin24 on Thursday that the organisation, which represents the private sector, has already met with the minister about the impact of safety and security concerns.

"The latest numbers reflect what we have been cautioning about since last year, namely that forward bookings are down, despite some markets remaining resilient. We will respond to return confidence in the market," he said.

"Now it is time for the public and private sector to get together to achieve our goals of growing the tourism industry. We now know where the cracks are - like safety and security - and we have to now move with speed. The TBCSA is always ready to get to work."

Kubayi-Ngubane has already led delegations to places like China and Japan and is visiting Ghana and Nigeria with the aim to increase the number of tourist arrivals.

Further more, her department is engaging with local stakeholders like airlines to see how joint marketing strategies could possibly lead to better results.



According to Tshivhengwa, SA's tourism marketing must be purposeful to fix brand issues. In his view, the recent scrapping of the requirement of unabridged birth certificates for foreign minors arriving in SA, will have a positive impact to repair the country's image as a family market.

"We need to be competitive in presenting our tourism case. It will take hard work," he added.

Kubayi-Ngubane indicated that her department, along with other stakeholders, will at the beginning of December announce a Tourism Safety Strategy and the implementation of plans as a response to the concerns raised by key markets.

"We are committed to reach (President Cyril Ramaphosa's) target of 21 million arrivals by 2030 and we are working with all the stakeholders in the sector to make this a reality," she said.

"We realise that, as we work towards this target, we might experience some fluctuations, but we will ensure that the overall trajectory remains positive."

Christelle Grohmann, director of the tourism specialist unit at professional services firm BDO, recently told Fin24 that Ramaphosa's tourism target is double the number of tourists SA had at the beginning of the year and equates to a 6% compound growth.

According to Grohmann, the latest decline in numbers highlights that the SA tourism industry is far from having the momentum to achieve these goals.


https://www.fin24.com/Economy/minister- ... s-20191130


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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Stop criminality and the tourists will arrive!

Maybe the criminals have sources at the rental companies O**

Does it not show from the number plates if it's a rental car -O-


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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Lisbeth wrote: Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:33 pm

Maybe the criminals have sources at the rental companies O**

:yes: :yes: :yes:

Rental cars have little stickers, often, but that does not indicate foreign or not. :no:


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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http://www.tourismupdate.co.za/article/ ... y-strategy


Minister/industry partners set to outline safety strategy
Yesterday - by Adele Mackenzie


Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, is expected to brief media this week about the safety and security of tourists visiting South Africa.

“We will at the beginning of December, jointly with our stakeholders, announce our Tourism Safety Strategy and the implementation plans as a response to the concerns raised by our key markets,” Kubayi-Ngubane said in a statement.


This echoed an earlier promise made at the SATSA Gauteng year-end dinner when, speaking exclusively to Tourism Update, the Minister highlighted that certain crime hotspots had already been identified and that her department was working with the South African Police Services to ensure additional safety measures in these areas.

At the time of the interview, Kubayi-Ngubane indicated that the press briefing would be held on Thursday, December 5.

Last week, the Minister directly linked the decline in the number of tourists visiting South Africa to concerns about safety and security, with September 2019 figures released by Statistics South Africa revealing that the total number of tourist arrivals (7 562 743) went down by 2.1% (a drop of 164 989) for the period January to September 2019, compared with the same period in 2018 (7 727 732).

“The major impact on the numbers has been the concerns around the safety and security of tourists in our country,” commented the Minister.

Reporting is key

TBSCA CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, told Tourism Update in a recent interview that the tourism industry needed to clean up its image. And that included taking collective responsibility for addressing the scourge of crime which was severely damaging to tourism growth.

“We are working with SATSA, SA Tourism and other key stakeholders and have crafted and costed a strategy to address this,” he said, adding that one of the ways industry could assist was to report crimes against their customers.

“However small it might be, robust reporting provides insight into the types of crimes and where they occur, which could go a long way to helping law enforcement agencies such as the South African Police Services to craft their own, more targeted strategies,” explained Tshivhengwa.

Yet a lack of trust in the SAPS is driving under-reporting, with executive chairman of Dragonfly Africa, Rupert Jeffries, highlighting to Tourism Update that, while he had observed a big police presence at OR Tambo International Airport last week (about 15 individuals), they were all sitting down and doing nothing to, for example, stop people harassing incoming tourists.

Team effort

Daryl Keywood, MD of Walthers Destination Business Solutions Africa, agreed with Tshivhengwa that a team effort was required. “Certainly the police, local tourism agencies and DMCs/tour operators need to work more closely together,” he said, pointing out that in the past, when Walthers had had a large group participating in a township corporate social responsibility activity, or returning late at night along Cape Town’s N2 highway, they had informed the police station closest to the hotel.

“As a result, we have seen visible signs of increased policing. Cape Town’s Waterfront police station commander is particularly good, sharing the route details with police stations in the relevant areas,” added Keywood.


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Re: The real reasons for decline in tourism arrivals in SA

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Good, if it happens.

SATSA know what they are doing, and should replace the "department of tourism" in my opinion... O**


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