EDITORIAL: Tackle tourism and make it grow

It was only earlier this week that tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu finally came out with something to say on the racist incident in December in which a group of white men attacked two black teens who tried to take a swim in the pool at the Maselspoort resort.

The incident, which made global headlines, did nothing for SA’s reputation as a holiday destination. Yet it took the minister two weeks to comment, rather blandly, that it had tarnished tourism.

But that was not SA’s only own goal in a summer season that should have been a bumper one for the country as a whole. This was the first December in three years that was not overshadowed by one or another new variant of Covid-19. It was the first in which inbound foreign tourists were not blocked by red-listing.

While domestic holidaymakers are the bedrock of the summer tourism industry, the foreigners bring crucial foreign exchange, along with the potential to boost SA’s reputation as a destination for foreign tourism and investment more broadly. And this was a good moment for SA to take advantage, with consumers from Europe and the US having the appetite and the means to get back to some serious post-Covid-19 travelling. Looking ahead, they could be joined by Chinese tourists too as that country reopens.

The season was a bumper one for some parts of the country, particularly the Cape. But as the Sunday Times reported, Durban flopped, and so did much of KwaZulu-Natal. Umhlanga reported a million fewer visitors than its pre-Covid level. Along Durban’s coastline, beach visits were estimated at just a third of pre-Covid numbers. A big reason for the flop was that so many of the beaches were closed because the water was too polluted to allow for safe swimming.

Even though some Durban beaches were belatedly opened, the damage was done. Given the E-coli in the water and the damaged sewerage systems causing it, swimming must have been a risky business even when the beaches were opened. eThekwini officials were quoted as saying after the KwaZulu-Natal floods in April that the priority was to restore peoples’ water and electricity — and infrastructure repairs took a back seat. That local and provincial governments have not managed to do either since April is a concern in its own right. But it tends to reflect, too, how little priority is given to a sector as important as tourism.

The sector was devastated by the pandemic and is recovering, but too slowly. It is particularly suited as a growth and employment generator for SA, given the country’s rich natural endowment of beaches, wildlife and mountains, as well as its people resources. Tourism is a sector SA should be going all out to cultivate. And foreign tourism should be high on the list of priorities, especially since SA cannot rely on the commodities boom to boost its balance of payments forever. But amid all the wishful thinking about industrialisation and manufacturing over the past week from the ANC and from the president himself, there was hardly a mention of tourism.

Data on December tourist trends will be published only in the next couple of months. Last year did see steady improvement, particularly in the second half as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided. The most recent official figures show 566,000 foreign tourists visited SA in November, up more than 100% on the previous November. But this is still hardly more than 50% of the pre-Covid-19 level and SA still has much to do to build back its tourism sector, particularly its foreign tourism.

The World Travel and Tourism Council noted in July that the SA travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP had fallen to just 3.1% in 2020, from 6.4% in 2019, with the number of jobs plummeting from 1.5-million pre-Covid-19 to just 1-million. The sector’s contribution recovered to more than 4% of GDP in 2021 and the council estimates it could jump to more than 7% by 2032, creating more than 800,000 jobs.

But that’s not going to just happen. National, provincial and local governments need to work with the private sector to make tourism a priority, tackle the troubles holding it back, and put SA firmly on the map as an attractive tourist destination.