Speaker, it is with a great sense of pride that I attended the largest travel expo in Africa some weeks ago - the Tourism Indaba in Durban. There were 1200 Southern Africa exhibitioners and 800 foreign operators and journalists. Nearly 25 percent of the Indaba participants were from the Western Cape.
We have tried to gear our tourism industry towards creating sustainable, self-reliant and developmental opportunities for communities.
Tourism open to all
Ultimately, a prerequisite for the successful development of tourism is the participation of the community. It is our intention to ensure that tourism to the Western Cape is open to all. We are the gateway to Africa and we have a responsibility to showcase African hospitality.
Our efforts to promote "township" tourism have paid handsome dividends with increased number of visitors visiting the former disadvantaged areas near Cape Town in particular. This has added yet another destination to the itinerary of international tourists who increasingly want to interact with local people and "taste" the flavours of the countries that they visit.I am pleased to announce that our policy of including businesses from formerly disadvantaged areas into the Indaba this year and last year is also beginning to pay dividends.
The Joint Marketing Initiative (JMI)
The JMI is aimed at joining the fragmented marketing forces of the Western Cape to increase tourism, trade and investment to the Cape. It makes more sense to align our marketing efforts into one and bring a single-minded focus to promoting Cape Town and the Western Cape to national and international markets.
In the short term the JMI aims to promote the Western Cape and Cape Town in a focused and united marketing strategy. In the long term the initiative will bring economic upliftment, job creation and will benefit all citizens.
The challenge is to ensure that the image of Cape Town and its hinterland is translated into a single brand, which shapes domestic and foreign perceptions of our region as a desirable place in which to do business, invest and visit. The JMI will change the face of Western Cape tourism.
Cape Town International Convention Centre
Over the past 15 to 20 years, the market for meeting incentives, conferences and events experienced major international growth. However, the Western Cape has not been able to respond to this opportunity because we could not offer facilities of international standards.
This year Western Cape Provincial Government allocated a capital payment of R85 million for a world-standard convention centre. At present Sunwest contributes R140 million and the City of Cape Town R264 million. The Centre, rising on the Foreshore as we speak, will position the Western Cape as a destination for global meetings, conventions and events, and a major opportunity to grow tourism. It will also be an important magnet to attract business tourists.
The Cape Town Convention Bureau recently confirmed that just under R100-million worth of convention business has been secured between now and 2010. The positive impact of this on the local fiscus cannot be underestimated, nor can the value of its job creation potential.
Convenco is an excellent example of tourism's potential to fight poverty. The centre will offer opportunities to outsource and concession activities, which are not core to the management of a world-class convention centre. It will provide opportunities for Western Cape based businesses, especially those from previously marginalised communities, to operate in an international environment.
It is estimated that in the next ten years Convenco will contribute R25 billion to the GDP and in this time will create 47 000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
I am pleased to announce the Convention Centre is due to open one month ahead of schedule in July 2003.
Addressing flight increases to Cape Town
Critically aware of the urgent need to resolve the "open skies" issue my ministry has engaged with international carriers to pursue ways and means to allow a greater inflow of international tourists into the country via Cape Town International Airport.
As you are aware, in this regard, I also recently called for an enquiry to probe the frequency of both domestic and international flights into Cape Town and their impact on tourism to the province.This action follows widespread disenchantment among the tourism industry in the Western Cape concerning the low frequency of international and domestic flights into the Province and its detrimental impact on tourism for the area.
International and domestic flights into Cape Town are of vital importance to the Western Cape tourism industry. Equally important is that problems and opportunities relating to the frequency of these flights be identified and addressed by all role players in the Western Cape economy. In doing so, that together we can devise a plan and strategy that will benefit the Western Cape tourism industry as a whole.
Tourism in the Western Cape is big and over the past few months it has become clearer to me that the tourism budget for this Province is not in accordance with its huge job creation potential. In the tourism industry there are many expectations and pressure from our private sector partners to develop this potential. Without a appropriate budget, we cannot operate effectively and I intend looking into this into more detail.
There is no doubt that tourism offers our best opportunity for economic and employment growth over the next decade. In fighting poverty, tourism development must play a critical role in supporting the Constitution's commitment to improving the quality of life of all citizens, while protecting the natural environment for future generations.
