"The NTSS we are launching here today is a document that the entire tourism sector in South Africa can be immensely proud of. This strategy will serve not only as a tool of inspiration to grow our sector to greater heights than ever before, but also as a map to guide us along the way and a yardstick by which to measure our performance. "I believe the NTSS will be the driver that will enable us to reach our ambitious growth targets," Van Schalkwyk said.
The South African government has identified tourism as one of the key contributing sectors to the medium-term strategic priorities of growing the economy and creating decent work. Tourism's capacity to deliver on these priorities has been strengthened through the establishment of a dedicated National Department of Tourism (NDT).
In recognising government's facilitation role in optimising the contributions of the various role players in the tourism sector, a coherent and coordinated strategic approach to tourism development and promotion is needed.
"The NTSS is a result of intense collaboration between the NDT, an advisory panel of top industry minds, representatives of a variety of professional bodies in the tourism sector, academia, provinces, tourism-marketing agencies, civil society, local and national governments and members of the public.
"The process of formulating the strategy, gathering and incorporating comments and input and fine-tuning this product was comprehensive and consultative and the result is a sector strategy we can all collectively take ownership of," Van Schalkwyk said.
The draft strategy, which was published in May 2010, made provision for a period of public comment. In total, the NDT received more than 37 000 inputs from a wide range of stakeholders, including government agencies, provinces, municipalities, associations and individuals. These were considered, and further bilateral consultations on the revised draft strategy were held with stakeholders.
The final document has therefore been more than 18 months in the making, and was formally approved by Cabinet on 2 March 2011.
"The vision of the NTSS is to position South Africa as one of the top 20 tourism destinations globally by 2020, and I believe our concerted and focused efforts as a sector will enable us to reach this goal," the Minister said.
"We all know that the tourism sector in South Africa, and its contribution to our gross domestic product (GDP), has grown tremendously in the last two decades. As a national department, and an industry, we believe we have not yet reached our full potential and the NTSS is intended to provide clear guidance on how to grow tourism's absolute contribution to the economy.
"The NTSS recognises that tourism is a concurrent function across all spheres of government, and further acknowledges the enabling role that other government departments play in tourism. In addition, we are well aware of the vital role of the private sector and ordinary South Africans in terms of making tourism the success story it has become.
"We as a national department look forward to implementing this strategy with our partners across other spheres of government, as well as the private sector. We believe tourism is the embodiment of the idea that as a collective we can achieve exponentially more than as individual parts of a sum," Van Schalkwyk said.
The overall goal of the strategy rests on four pillars, namely:
The strategy proposes mutual trust; accountability; respect for our culture and heritage; responsible tourism; transparency and integrity; service excellence; upholding the values of our Constitution; a commitment to transformation, and adaptation to change as the guiding values for the tourism sector.
Key focus areas of the NTSS
In order to achieve these three overarching objectives, the NTSS will focus on the following:
"In this regard I can announce today that we are establishing a National Convention Bureau. We expect this Bureau to make a significant impact in terms of amongst others consolidating, co-ordinating and strengthening our efforts to attract meetings and conventions to South Africa. The Bureau will be established under the auspices of South African Tourism and will be operational early in the new financial year," Van Schalkwyk said.
Some of the key success factors in terms of the implementation of the NTSS have been identified as:
The NTSS has responsibilities for every stakeholder segment in the sector. Its success will depend on the extent of coordination of its implementation.
To ensure that there is a cooperative and collaborative approach to implementation, the NTSS provides for the establishment of a Delivery Forum. This comprises the public sector, private sector, organised labour, civil society and knowledge groups. The Director-General will convene the forum at least twice a year.
For more information visit www.tourism.gov.za.