Madam Chair, hon members, there can be no doubt that the SA Tourism Board needs to be restructured.
Satour was created to market South Africa in a period during which the international community imposed travel restrictions on visitors to and from South Africa to protest against the country's policy of apartheid. As such, it operated in an environment that was not conducive to tourism development. It has come to be associated with the old South Africa and therefore lacked a vision of our new reality, namely greater representation of the previously neglected groups and development of tourism in a way that would contribute to the reconstruction and development of our country.
The importance of the Tourism Amendment Bill cannot be emphasised enough if one looks at the economic potential of tourism in South Africa. In 1994, tourism was estimated to have contributed a mere 2% of the gross domestic product. It increased to 4% during 1995. This growth trend continued at such a pace that the World Tourism Organisation ranked South Africa as one of the top tourist destinations in the world in 1998.
A calculation made by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism shows that if tourism continues its upward trend, tourism could triple its contribution to national income. This means that the industry could generate some R40 billion annually and create 2 million jobs. This, however, will only be possible if we broaden our tourism industry by drawing in the many communities and neglected groups that have been excluded in the past. These communities and groups possess significant tourism resources.
The White Paper on Tourism recognises that -
... provincial government has a critically important role to play in the development and promotion of the tourism industry of South Africa.
Schedule 6 of the Constitution explicitly provides for tourism to be a provincial responsibility. However, the Constitution also envisages a central role for national government in the effective marketing and promotion of the country by promoting tourism as a national priority. The Tourism Amendment Bill seeks to achieve both of the above objectives.
By giving the hon the Minister the power to appoint people on the basis of their potential active involvement in tourism, the opportunity is given to neglected communities and groups to enter the tourism industry. In the past, these communities and groups lacked access to the tourism market because visitors were kept within hotels and resorts and ventured out only to ``sanitised'' places of interest. Tourists were a rare sight in local shebeens or amongst the local craft vendors. Furthermore, many negative attitudes existed within the tourism industry towards community tourism products, which were regarded as inferior.
The Tourism Amendment Bill does not negate the role of provinces or the other key parties involved in tourism. It merely seeks to transform the Tourism Board to make it more representative. The fact that the provision requiring representation by businesses and labour sectors and provinces had been removed does not mean that this sector will not be consulted in any tourism plans.
The amendment proposes an alternative means of facilitating the involvement of provinces in the Tourism Board. The chairperson of the Board will have to communicate the minutes of every Board meeting to the members of the executive council responsible for tourism in each province. The Board must also consult with the relevant members of the executive council on the establishment of procedures and programmes to promote and maintain a sound working relationship between the Board and the various provinces. [Applause.]