提升南非旅游吸引力

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Increase South Africa’s Appeal to Tourists

——Interview with Mr. Mansoor Mohamed, Asia Pacific Hub Head of South African Tourism

By Zhang Mei China Investment

According to South African Tourism Bureau, in 2018, the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Africa was 97,136, with an average of 8,095 visitors per month. Particularly, compared with the same period of 2017, the number of the last six months of 2018 increased by 8% .And again in January 2019, it was 22% higher than in January 2018. President Cyril Ramafosa of South Africa once said that South Africa was aiming at increasing its international tourists’ number from 10.5 million in 2018 to 21 million in 2030. In order to achieve this goal, what measures will South Africa take to promote tourism development in the future? What plans will South Africa and China have for cooperation in the tourism industry? Recently, at an exclusive interview with China Investment magazine, Mr. Mansoor Mohamed Asia Pacific Hub Head of South African Tourism gave a detailed answer.

China Investment: What is the status of tourism in South Africa’s economic development? What is the purpose of South Africa’s efforts to develop tourism?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: Tourism is predicted to play a major role in South Africa’s economic future by supporting infrastructure development and improving the lives of our people across the country. In 2017 Tourism in SA contributed 8,9% of South Africa’s GDP and 9.5% of South Africa’s employment.

The tourism industry created 32 186 new jobs in 2015, raising the tourism workforce from 679 560 individuals in 2014 to a total of 711 746 individuals. Arrivals from China for 12 months to Dec 2018 was 97,136, amounting to an average of 8,095 arrivals per month. Although the total amount was almost the same as 2017, the last 6 months to Dec 2018 saw an increase of 8% over the same period in 2017. In Jan 2019, there was a jump of 22% over Jan 2018. SA Tourism China is expecting the growth trend to continue with a minimum, 10% increase in arrivals over 2018. While the arrivals from China to South Africa has been flat, the economic impact was overwhelmingly positive, with tourism spend for 2018 increasing 69% over 2017, mainly due to increased length of stat and increase in average daily spend.

Tourism is a sector that is thriving and that has tremendous potential for further growth and for the creation of jobs. We need to expand tourism in our countries, to contribute to economic growth, to increase our foreign earnings, to bring more people into the mainstream of our economies, and to boost related industries.

⬆Elephant about to cross the road in front of a game drive in Kruger National Park   Photo by South African Tourism

China Investment: South Africa is a beautiful country. According to the data, the number of tourists has increased year by year. To this end, what efforts does the South African government make? What are the incentive policies?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: South African Tourism has been holding roadshows, exhibitions, trade training and consumer seminars in major and secondary cities across China. South African tour companies have added Mandarin-speaking guides and translating their promotional materials into Mandarin.

South Africa is affordable and the favorable Rand exchange rate makes South Africa very attractive and a competitively priced destination of choice for luxury experiences and world class shopping.

Visa facilitation centers have also been established in 11 Chinese cities covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, Shenyang, Wuhan, Jinan, Hangzhou, Kunming and Chongqing, meaning more Chinese people have easy access to visas than ever before.

China Investment: What plans does the South African government have for the future development of the tourism industry? What is the goal? Which industries are the key development directions of South Africa’s tourism industry?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: In his State of the Nation Address in February this year, South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that South Africa is looking to increase its international tourist numbers from 10.5-million in 2018 to 21-million in 2030.

To do so, we must be vigorous in promoting domestic tourism and get the citizens of our countries to travel and see the beauty of their own countries, enhance Inter-governmental cooperation between different departments and agencies. This will be key to ensuring that we meet our goals, to consciously empower the youth and women by giving them pathways to participate effectively in the tourism industry as owners and managers of various offerings and businesses, to united in our aspiration to build and brand Africa as a continent of success and a continent that will shine as a tourist destination for the world and for our own people, to embrace technology in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. We should be open to international benchmarks that we should use to drive-up the standards, competitiveness and the quality of our domestic tourism industry.

Modern tourism requires organizational systems and the provision of a supporting infrastructure of facilities and personnel able to run the tourism business. This means that we should develop and upgrade our energy generation, clean water reticulation, roads, bridges, hotels, hospitals, telecommunication, our game parks and many other facilities.

China Investment: What difficulties did South Africa encounter in developing tourism? How to solve? What challenges will be faced in the future? What will the government do?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: The Chinese market is sensitive to safety and security issues, and South Africa is fortunate not to be affected by acts of terrorism that is currently plaguing many parts of the world.

South African Tourism and the trade work closely together to ensure that tourists are not at risk. Chinese visitors are advised to always adhere to safety guidelines from guides and local South Africans. Initiatives like our own tourism safety monitors in South Africa are examples of measures that can be undertaken.

South Africa is also committed to working towards the African Union’s goal of visa free travel and a single African air transport market. We are in the process of radically overhauling our visa dispensation for the rest of the world and introducing a world class e-visa system.

China Investment: What is the current cooperation between South Africa and China in tourism?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: South Africa, the starting point of connecting Africa to China under the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) framework, is vital to the collaboration of BRI-related countries.
We have lots of coop with traditional and non-traditional partners in China market including Chinese trade, media and other Chinese brands, eg. SA Tourism cooped with DJI and Cathay Pacific Airline for a co-branding project to for the promotion in China.

China Investment: In the future, in which industries does South Africa hope to work more closely with China? Is the hotel, route opening, scenic area construction, or service? Or is it other?

Mr. Mansoor Mohamed: South Africa is willing to coop with China in the whole tourism industry to drive the travel between the two countries. Taking the new routes as examples, Air China just added the stop of Shenzhen into the route between Beijing and Johannesburg in January 2019. Following the route extension of Air China, South African Airways will open a new route between Guangzhou and Johannesburg in September 18th, 2019.

We are looking forward to more new cooperation between China and South African in the tourism industry.

文 | 本刊记者  张梅

编辑 | 张梅

  设计 | 李玉丹