Madam Deputy Speaker, hon members of this august House, Your Excellency, Deputy President, the Tourism White Paper of 1996 recognised the strategic importance of tourism to the economy of South Africa. It is considered to be one of the six core pillars of growth in the New Growth Path Framework, NGPF. And it has also been identified as the key sector with the potential to grow the economy and create jobs.
The National Tourism Sector Strategy of 2011 aims to establish South Africa as one of the top 20 tourism destinations in the world by 2020. In order to achieve this, it recognised the need to create a legislative and regulatory environment that is conducive to tourism development and promotion.
The Tourism Bill 2012 that is presented here for your earnest consideration and approval is designed to do exactly that. It provides a broad framework for sustainable growth and development of the tourism sector.
The framework as encapsulated in the Bill, amongst other objectives, primarily covers the following four areas: Firstly, marketing South Africa as a tourists destination both internationally and locally through the SA Tourism Board, SATB; secondly, ensuring quality control of the sector through the Tourism Grading Council, TGC, and the appointment of a chief quality assurance officer for the management of the grading system; and thirdly, addressing complaints from tourists through the designation of an official of the national Department of Tourism as the tourism protector; fourthly, during the public hearing on the Bill, one particular submission raised a concern that the tourism industry was being dominated by many unqualified and unregistered tour guides.
Well, hon members, the Bill before the House seeks to provide for the appointment of an official as the national register of tour guides, whose task would, amongst other duties, be to maintain a central database of tour guides as well as to prepare and enforce a code of conduct and ethics for tour guides. In short, he or she will be responsible for the management, regulation, and quality controls of the tour guides profession.
Hon Deputy Speaker, many of the concerns raised by various stakeholders during the process of the public hearings are already covered in the NTSS. Other relevant concerns have now been addressed in the current Bill before the House. However, many of the issues raised, like matters related to labour or lack of proper infrastructure could not be legislated for, and therefore, could not be accommodated in the Bill and for the following sound reasons: They have been covered by the existing legislation elsewhere. They do not fall under the mandate or competency of the NDT. They are matters related to departmental strategic direction and matters of policy.
However, there were some valuable suggestions that came up in the submissions during the cause of public hearings, which do not necessarily relate to the NDT, and they reside in other governmental departments but they are good enough to be given serious consideration. And there are many that I could quote, but I don't have time for that.
I hope that the other government departments will fully co-operate with the NDT and we have reiterated this time and again, we have emphasised that there is a need to have interdepartmental co-ordination and co-operation, without which the NDT and the tourism sector will not achieve their desired goals.
In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is my considered opinion that this Bill before the House with all its provisions, plugs the gaps that exist in the Tourism Act of 1993, and also grants the Minister the necessary powers and sufficient autonomy to overcome the inadequate, unco-ordinated, inconsistent and fragmented tourism planning and information provision, as they have been identified in the preamble of the Bill.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank all those people who have been instrumental and who have made valuable contributions, including members of the public towards the formulation and the facilitation of this Bill. The DA supports the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]