Minister claims that only a few attractions needs to be upgraded

HAZYVIEW – Minister of tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, met with business and private tourism leaders on Tuesday and said in her opinion the state of Mpumalanga tourist attractions was not as bad as made out to be.

She blamed the media for their role in exaggerating the state of tourism. It was apparent from the onset of the meeting, at Casa do Sol hotel in Hazyview, that there was a complete dissonance between government’s perspective and that of the private sector regarding tourism’s state of affairs.

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Both Oupa Pilane, president of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) and Athol Stark, the COO of Highveld Tourism, handed over petitions to the minister. Kubayi-Ngubane was clear that private sector had no right to dictate to government how to make appointments.

This came after demands from the industry that the MTPA board be sacked.She said it was not an option, as the constitutional power to appoint remained the prerogative of a minister. “If anything goes wrong, I would be held personally liable.”But, she did agree that representation on the board had to come from the private sector and government employees who understood public finance management.

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Kubayi-Ngubane emphasised that there were quite a few issues pertaining to safety and security and that government was working on a safety strategy. The responsibility lay with the national Department of Safety and Security which, in conjunction with business, private sector and municipalities, needed to implement proactive measures to address crime. The mechanism included a protocol on how to give after care to tourists who were affected by crime.

The use of technology, like drones, is also being investigated, as it has been successfully implemented in the KNP. The roll-out will start in Cape Town and then at in the rest of SANParks. The use of drones and cameras to monitor crime hot-spots will also be beneficial. The minister said the recruitment of safety monitors to communicate with tourists and inform them on safety issues is imperative.

No clear plan was set out how to address the challenges of promoting and managing the Makhonjwa Mountains, which were declared a World Heritage Site last year. The minister said the challenge was how provincial and national government could institutionalise the site in order to make progress.

The tourism minister said they would further look into the problems tourism operators had in obtaining tour operating licenses.

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Transformation in the industry will be addressed through a transformational fund, which is currently being reviewed to enhance its effectiveness. “We have what we call ‘incubational funds’ for hubs, to assist emerging business. We have been engaging with our BEE Advisory Council to assist in this matter.”

The minister agreed that Mpumalanga was a very important province, with enticing products on offer to local and foreign tourists. According to her, domestic campaigns are being addressed to encourage South Africans to travel their own country.”We are also investigating the same for China, Nigeria and India to increase visitors from abroad coming here. Studies show tourists rather want to travel to a destination if it is visa-free,” Kubayi-Ngubane elaborated.

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The poor state of roads in the area and the impact it has on tourism will be addressed with the Department of Transport.

Kubayi-Ngubane was clear that crime issues had to be resolved in order to market the country globally. Part of the solution was that the three spheres of government had to work together.
“There are areas to fix, but all is not not doom and gloom,” Kubayi-Ngubane concluded.