Minister raises racism at South Africa Tourism Month launch

July 31, 2017

South Africa tourism minister raised racism at tourism month launch. Meanwhile, the many races of South Africa are represented in the Nelson Mandela University Choir. Source: GovernmentZA https://www.flickr.com/photos/governmentza/35872724332/

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An hol­ist­ic focus on the socioeco­nom­ic bene­fits of tour­ism to com­munit­ies is at the heart of South Africa Tour­ism Month, Septem­ber 2017, which was launched last week.

“This is why it is so vital to encour­age South Afric­ans to travel around their own coun­try,” South Africa Min­is­ter of Tour­ism Tokoz­ile Xasa said. “Not only will they be enriched by these leis­ure trips, they are also con­trib­ut­ing to the sus­tain­able long-term devel­op­ment of all play­ers in the loc­al, pro­vin­cial and nation­al tour­ism economy.”

How­ever, until racism has been addressed tour­ism will be neg­at­ively affected, accord­ing to Ms Xasa, who was speak­ing at the launch of Tour­ism Month in Mpumalanga.

Xasa said: “We have 11 lan­guages in our coun­try and people from out­side ask how are we work­ing togeth­er. We need to keep that, as you can see racism is rife in our circles in this country.”

Xasa added that in some parts of the world black people were in charge.

“For example, we vis­ited the USA recently and when we were in Chica­go the town was clean and wel­com­ing, and I tell you that the black people there were in charge,” she said.

“They run busi­nesses, they run tour­ism. We need that in our coun­try. Let’s put our focus on the sec­tor, let’s make sure it works for the country.”

South Africa Tourism.

Bourke’s Luck Potholes, Mpumalanga, South Africa. Mpumalanga was where Tour­ism Month 2017 was launched. Source: SA Tour­ism

Tourism is everybody’s business

A Nation­al Depart­ment of Tour­ism ini­ti­at­ive, Tour­ism Month is an annu­al cel­eb­ra­tion of South Africa’s rich and var­ied tour­ism offer­ing that seeks to encour­age South Afric­ans to explore and dis­cov­er their own country.

Xasa said: “We aim to use Tour­ism Month as a vehicle to inspire South Afric­ans to travel in their own beau­ti­ful coun­try by pro­mot­ing domest­ic travel that is eas­ily access­ible, afford­able and excit­ing, and often right on their own doorstep.”

In keep­ing with 2017 being declared the Inter­na­tion­al Year of Sus­tain­able Tour­ism for Devel­op­ment by the UNWTO, the theme of this year’s Tour­ism Month is sus­tain­ab­il­ity; pro­mot­ing eco-friendly, inclus­ive and socially respons­ible travel & tour­ism prac­tices that pro­mote cul­tur­al diversity and boost the sector’s con­tri­bu­tion to the South Afric­an economy.

South Africa tourism says “I do”

Fur­ther­more, in keep­ing with South Africa’s I Do Tour­ism cam­paign, which emphas­ises the concept that tour­ism is every­body’s busi­ness, Xasa said South Afric­ans could “do tour­ism” sus­tain­ably by using recyc­lable products, pro­mot­ing energy effi­ciency, con­serving the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment, and sup­port­ing anti-poach­ing initiatives.

“By being a wel­com­ing coun­try of smiles and genu­ine hos­pit­al­ity, we can all play a part in our own prosper­ity. Tour­ism is a valu­able pil­lar of many healthy and pros­per­ous soci­et­ies and by extend­ing a vis­it to fam­ily and friends into a hol­i­day trip, and sup­port­ing loc­al entre­pren­eurs and small busi­nesses, we are all play­ing a part in devel­op­ing and enhan­cing the eco­nomy and our people.”

South Africa tourism says "I do". President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa at the INDABA 2017. Source: GovernmentZA

Pres­id­ent Jac­ob Zuma and Min­is­ter of Tour­ism Tokoz­ile Xasa at the INDABA 2017 where they launched I Do Tour­ism. Source: Gov­ern­mentZA

Xasa, South Africa Pres­id­ent Jac­ob Zuma, and South Afric­an Tour­ism used the 2017 Tour­ism Indaba in Durb­an in May as a launch pad for its ‘I Do Tour­ism (IDT)’ campaign.

I Do Tour­ism seeks to remind South Afric­ans of the import­ance of the tour­ism industry and the role cit­izens can play as advoc­ates for South Africa and for tourism.

The pur­pose of the cam­paign, accord­ing to SA Tour­ism, is to show the eco­nom­ic and social value of tour­ism in South Africa.

Five million more in five years

In 1994 South Africa had few­er than three mil­lion for­eign vis­it­ors a year. Cur­rently more than 10 mil­lion tour­ists vis­it the coun­try annually.

Xasa said this rep­res­en­ted a mere frac­tion of the more than one bil­lion trav­el­lers around the world and said she wanted to increase the num­ber of tour­ists vis­it­ing South Africa.

“Many [oth­er des­tin­a­tions] struggle to tap into that, and as South Africa, we have the best in everything; we need to take charge now,” she said.

SA Tour­ism chief exec­ut­ive Sisa Ntshona said they had a plan to grow tour­ism: “We have a five-in-five plan, where we want five mil­lion new tour­ists in the next five years.”

Sources: IOL, Dis­patch LIVE, and SA Gov­ern­ment News Agency.

Fea­tured image: Many races of South Africa are rep­res­en­ted in the Nel­son Man­dela Uni­ver­sity Choir. Source: Gov­ern­mentZA

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