Madam Deputy Speaker, I think the Minister was quite right in saying that this Bill has gone through a long passage. It has gone through the constitutional muster and it also went through Nedlac where certain clauses of a transport related matter were negotiated and extracted. What we have in front of us today is a much more refined and meaningful Bill focusing on bringing tourism to the fore as a serious contributor to the gross domestic product, GDP, unemployment and the economy. Furthermore it relates well to the National Development Plan in so much that it assists in co-ordinating and planning in an industry that was deemed to be fragmented and untransformed.
These challenges can only be addressed through a concerted effort by all spheres of government and the private sector working together. As Tourism is an area of concurrent national, provincial and local competence it would be essential that co-ordination and synergies between these spheres are both maintained, aligned and enhanced in order to provide for good co- operative governance. During both oversight and the public hearings of which there were over 27 submissions, the portfolio committee identified this area as critical if scarce resources were to be used effectively and duplication of destination marketing did not occur.
The Bill attempts to address these and other important matters in a number of ways. The main provisions are for the continued existence of the South African Tourism Board, the establishment of the Tourism Grading Council, the regulation of the tourist guide profession and most importantly the creation and adoption of a National Tourism Sector Strategy in order to promote the objectives of this Act.
If the department's vision of being one of the top 20 world destinations by 2020 were to be realised, many areas of visitor experience would need enhancement and to this end the Bill provides for not only the setting of standards of excellence but also the determination by Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk of norms, standards and indicators to measure compliance and excellence in both tourism services facilities and products. In a nutshell, the key is to give visitors to our country a great experience within the environment of a quality assured, responsible and safe destination which will get them talking and wanting to return here with their families and friends.
The Minister and his department has their work cut out for them and in order to ensure compliance with the Bill - one of their first jobs will be to adopt the National Tourism Sector Strategy. To this end, the Minister will need to create a forum which involves all stakeholders and members of the public at large in order to consult around this strategy, as without this buy in it will fail to achieve its objectives.
Key to this strategy will be the creation of a credible tourism information and monitoring system, including the crucial establishment of a database which will enable reliable visitor arrivals and departures at our ports of entry to be accurately recorded. Equally important to this will be to set up a system which also accurately determines domestic visits to our resorts. Accurate tourist data is crucial to developing and marketing our tourist destinations, and current figures derived from Statistics South Africa and the Department of Home Affairs are often treated with disdain by the tourist sector. Especially, since some visitors in transit are often inaccurately captured and those visitors from neighbouring states in particular are captured as tourists when in fact their main purpose to enter the country is that of seeking employment.
Many smaller problems still occur with the implementation of this Act which the Minister will need to monitor carefully. Paramount to this is the assurance by his counterparts that the cabinet plays its part. We cannot continue to promote tourism destinations that do not have proper road access or try to ensure our tourist guides meet high expectations - without proper training and information being given to them; or that their vehicles are given the necessary permits to travel with their clients from province to province if required.
I am sure the Minister is aware that there was a concession in the National Land Transport Act, clause 48, which actually enabled this to happen. I want to report to him that it is not happening. There is not an NTPR as it should have been established in each city so that guides can be able to take visitors throughout the country. Finally, let me touch on something that keeps on rearing its ugly head and is costing the industry dearly, which is the rising cost of accommodation, meals and entry into our national parks. The South African National Parks seems to be a law unto itself in this matter and consistently raises its fees to the detriment of tourism in general.
During the public hearings many concerns were raised about access and affordability by the more vulnerable members of our society in particular regarding heritage sites and our national parks. The matter needs urgent address. We do not want to end up losing our edge as an affordable destination on the back of a weak rand. Otherwise, the DA is looking forward to the implementation of the Bill despite some resistance from Kwazulu-Natal which you will have to deal with. We will be supporting the Bill's passage through Parliament and the National Council of Provinces, NCOP. [Applause.]