The meetings incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) industry have been identified as one of the key sub-sectors to lead South Africa’s tourism recovery. South Africa’s Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane revealed this during the virtual Tourism Budget Vote hearing on 21 July.

The Minister among other priority areas singled out the MICE sector as an area which will quicken the recovery. “One intervention that will drive demand in the recovery period is the MICE sector. We will aggressively bid to host large international events in anticipation of the opening of the borders so that upon opening, we can immediately drive up demand for our supply market and also build confidence that South Africa is safe and open for business,” she said.

Mrs. Kubayi-Ngubane added that “Whilst global tourism activity remains suppressed, world economies are under pressure and general consumer confidence uncertain, South African Tourism’s efforts will be strengthened to develop the future leisure and business markets. These will include bidding for future MICE events.”

As part of ensuring we remain budget-conscious while executing our role, the South African Tourism Hubs in the various countries, have migrated from focusing on just the specific countries which they operate in, to looking after entire regions.

With regard to policy, the current policy framework was developed within the context of a tourism White Paper developed in 1996. In this financial year, we are going to initiate a process to review the white paper and all our policies to align them with the current trends and practices in the tourism sector.

near-closure of the international travel industry during the pandemic. Accordingly, UNCTAD predicts that tourism in South Africa is going to lose 3% in GDP contribution, and the loss of unskilled jobs in the sector could be as high as 12% if the virus is contained in the next 8 months. It is estimated that R54.2 billion in output may already have been lost between mid-March and the end of May this year. The sector now faces a potential 75% revenue reduction in 2020, putting a further R149.7 billion in output, 438,000 jobs, and R80.2 billion in foreign receipts at risk.

No time to blame or apportion blame but time to come together and save the sector and economy. “Honourable members, all indications are that we are living through the third scenario as I mentioned. This is hardly the time for bickering and apportion blame, rather the situation demands that we work together to ensure that we weather the storm going forward and quote Maya Angelou when she said “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty” Tourism has proven over years that it is a resilient sector and we shall see its beauty like the butterfly in not so long in future,” the Minister observed.

On Relief Measures
On the measures instituted to mitigate the plight of tourism players, the minister appraised the house on measures taken so far.

“House Chairperson, Government has intervened to support businesses that are in distress through the Coronavirus COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme, worth R 200 billion and this is still accessible to many businesses including in our sector. Our sector also benefitted from the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS), established to provide financial relief to employees during the Covid-19 through the UIF. Working together with the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) we were able to arrange for a special dispensation such that tourism businesses could apply for TERS through the TBCSA. TERS has so far disbursed R34-billion in 7.4-million payments since March this year and the announcement by Minister Nxesi of the extension until 15th August goes a long way as we are one of the sectors that made these requests for extension.”

“For our part, we redirected R 200 million which assisted 4 000 businesses through the Tourism Relief Fund. We ensured that the benefit is spread geographically across the country to cover even businesses in small dorpies and townships as per the discussions in the portfolio committee.”

Waive of Fees
With regards to grading, South African Tourism has resolved to support the sector with the provision of an exemption for up to 12 months of the grading assessments and fees followed by a payment holiday of 100% grading discount, when the sector resumes operation to aid the recovery of the sector.
We are cognisant of the fact that both these schemes are incommensurate to the depth of the crisis faced by our sector.

Incubation & Entrepreneurship
With regard to entrepreneurship, the Department will also implement Enterprise Development Programmes, primarily targeted at women and youth, which provides developmental support to rural tourism enterprises over the medium-term period. The Programme comprises Hub-based Tourism Incubation Support and offsite national support for SMME. Our four incubators in Pilanesberg, Manyeleti, Phalaborwa, Mier are currently offering business support programme for tourism businesses affected by COVID-19, conducted through online platforms.

“We are also in the process of establishing a Technology Innovation Incubator aimed at nurturing enterprises that introduces technology innovation in the sector and a Tour Operators Incubator, which is aimed at assisting emerging sector players in tour operation to better manage their businesses. Most notably, the Department will implement the New Venture Creation Programme for youth in food services business including the utilisation of virtual platforms to activate Virtual Kitchens.

Working together with various stakeholders we have put together the tourism Recovery plan and we are in the final stages of consultation and we will within the month August submit the plan for Cabinet for approval. Honourable members, we will work with our sister departments and tourism stakeholders in implementing a set of interventions so that we can induce a quick recovery.

These will include readiness for the rollout of the e-visa system, resolving the challenges around the issuance of licenses for tour operators, and ensuring that all our marketing campaigns, globally and domestically, and associated partnerships are in place and ready to be rolled out.

Source: voyagesafriq.com