Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, and all our esteemed guests, the President, in his state of the nation address, unambiguously listed job creation as the most important priority in the country. He further indicated that the New Growth Path identified tourism as one of its major job drivers. In fact, the New Growth Path has positioned tourism as a pillar of the South African economy. What is basic and fundamental is that we should have inclusive growth with decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods to combat poverty and unacceptable levels of inequality, so that we improve the quality of life for all.
Flowing from that is the mandate of the national Department of Tourism, as captured in the Estimates of National Expenditure, which is to:
Promote and support growth and development of an equitable, competitive and sustainable tourism sector, enhancing its contribution to national priorities.
Furthermore, in government's Industrial Policy Action Plan, tourism is identified as a driver of both domestic consumer spending and foreign exchange earnings, bearing in mind that this sector is key because of its labour-absorbing capacity. It can absorb unskilled as well as semi-skilled workers. As the Minister has stated, it absorbs youth and women in both rural and urban areas. What further makes it a strategic area in the economy is that it has low barriers to entry for entrepreneurs, which means it is easy for people to do business, and you don't need extra skills or a lot of capital or support from bigger businesses.
In line with the New Growth Path, this department has priorities that include increasing investment in tourism; developing infrastructure; promoting decent work; encouraging historically disadvantaged communities and individuals to enter the sector; developing partnerships with stakeholders; improving the quality of service in the industry; developing innovative, unique and authentic products that meet global market standards while ensuring value for money for consumers; and encouraging South Africans to enjoy the tourism experiences that the country offers.
We need a more aggressive promotion of domestic and regional tourism by all stakeholders. We also need further exploration of the lucrative Middle East markets. I am sure that, as we are expanding and developing priorities and partnerships, the petrodollars of the Middle East will be more tempting in our industry as well. This will stabilise the industry whenever there are global fluctuations, which are often caused by factors beyond our control and which are quite often regional.
Moreover, as a country, let us make sure that we enhance tourism that has to do with the people of South Africa and their way of life. Together with the Department of Arts and Culture, we can surely capitalise on our rich history, heritage and cultural diversity, over and above our abundantly diverse flora and fauna which form part of the beauty of our motherland.
We also have to continue to strive to bring about a perception of South Africa as a safe country, and not only in regard to criminals and thugs. Our roads have to be perceived as safe. People should not fear contracting diseases in South Africa. We should keep our cities clean. We should have proper sanitation. We should finally have good road infrastructure to tourism attractions such as heritage sites, and they should provide easy access, with adequate signage leading to them.
In Soweto this has largely been done, and it has clearly demonstrated the potential for attracting both domestic and global tourists. The Blue Bulls and their supporters fell in love with Soweto because it was clean and safe, the transport infrastructure was up to scratch, people were friendly and the attraction was great. [Applause.] This is thanks to the concerted efforts of the Johannesburg Metro and the government at all levels.
Why can't this happen in Mitchells Plain or Khayelitsha? Capetonians should try harder, for the Stormers are a great team and Capetonians are wonderful people. [Applause.]
The good work that has been done so far will definitely benefit from the introduction of the new tourism sector strategy. Thanks go to the leadership of the Ministry and the department. It is indeed a very exciting development in the industry, and we shall closely monitor its performance with interest. Having a buy-in from all stakeholders, provinces and municipalities, it seems to be a solid foundation for this concurrent sector of the economy. The strategy positions South Africa as a destination of choice, as it plans to enhance visitor experiences by markedly ensuring quality of service and striving for sustained good governance. It further focuses on the attraction of business events like expos, conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs with the establishment of the national convention bureau, as mentioned by our Minister, under the auspices of SA Tourism, which will significantly assist in attracting major events. Surely, together, we can do more.
Collaboration with the Department of Sport and Recreation, which is planned for June this year, should enhance the performance of the National Tourism Sector Strategy even more in getting bigger events to our country. The 2010 Fifa World Cup has shown that South Africa is a great country. Given a common purpose, with clear goals, we are one of the greatest achievers in the world.
However, we should not be complacent. Some of our World Heritage Sites are threatened with delisting. Delisting will erode the tourist attraction value of sites like Mapungubwe and Robben Island. To correct the problems leading to the threat of delisting is not beyond our means, but we have to get our act together as stakeholders and at different levels of government.
The committee welcomes the increase in the number of air routes to several destinations that will benefit our tourism efforts, and some of them will be opened soon. We also call for the opening up of African airline routes so as to allow for more competition and a resulting decline in airline ticket prices in order to promote regional and continental tourism. Some of the tickets to African destinations - in fact, in most cases - are more expensive than tickets to Europe! This is not acceptable, but it lies with us to strive for better prices from the airlines.
We welcome the green approach to tourism by the Minister; I think that we all need it. We also agree with the Minister that this is a "must have". It is no longer a "nice to have".
We cannot conclude without congratulating the department for having an unqualified audit report, and further welcome the fact that control systems like the establishment of an audit committee and an internal audit are in place. [Applause.] This will ensure that risks of fruitless and wasteful expenditure are minimised and problems that were experienced with the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, will be eliminated.
We further expect that we shall not have funded vacancies in the department as soon as office space becomes available. We understand that this has been limited by the availability of space due to restructuring of the departments, but as soon as that has happened, we expect the department to fill all the funded vacancies.
We wish to see accelerated and inclusive growth, so that we can have more resources to address the much-needed Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, particularly in rural areas, in townships and in areas of the poor, which are a measure of an improved and more equitable growth.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the chairperson of sport and recreation for all the co-operation that we have had. I would also like to thank the chairpersons of arts and culture, transport and home affairs for assisting in making the summit on tourism a better event by their input and their insight into their fields, because tourism depends on other stakeholders, like other departments and people with other experience. The ANC supports this budget without qualification. Thank you. [Applause.]