Global travel and tourism ’fairly optimistic’
September 26 2012The state of travel and tourism globally looks fairly “optimistic”‚ especially amidst the global economic slowdown‚ SA’s Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Wednesday.
The minister was speaking at The World Tourism Day business breakfast in East London‚ Eastern Cape.
According to Minister Van Schalkwyk‚ globally‚ tourism was a leading export sector‚ accounting for 30% of the world’s services exports‚ estimated at US$1-trillion a year.
“It now also constitutes 45% of the total services exports in developing countries and makes a significant source of export revenue for our country. In 2011‚ travel and tourism exports constituted 67.9% of all services exports from our country‚” the minister said.
Travel and tourism exports earnings for SA exceed exports of automotive manufacturing‚ chemicals manufacturing‚ agriculture‚ financial services‚ education and construction; in fact‚ mining is the only sector that beats tourism’s share of total exports.
Tourist arrivals to SA increased by 10.5% year on year during the first quarter of 2012‚ while overseas arrivals inched up by nearly 18%. These statistics should be compared and understood within the context of global tourist arrival growth‚ which was at 5.4% during the first four months of the year. The latest Statistics SA accommodation figures also underscored this positive trend: total income for the accommodation industry for the second quarter of 2012 gained 11.2%.
In addition‚ over the past year‚ SA’s travel receipts have also escalated by an encouraging R10.6bn‚ or 14% year on year.
Meanwhile‚ the Reserve Bank last week reported that travel receipts edged up in the second quarter of 2012‚ rising by R5bn to R83.5bn - an all-time high‚ far exceeding the level of travel receipts recorded during the second quarter of 2010‚ more or less at the time of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
“Economists believe that the current trend can be maintained – especially as SA has established an exceptional profile for itself globally‚” the minister said.
He added that in order to take full advantage of the opportunities the tourism industry had to offer to respective rural communities and the South African public at large‚ challenges like the importance of intergovernmental cooperation in the implementation of tourism policies and strategies; the employment and practice of responsible and sustainable tourism measures; the issue of service excellence and the grading of establishments must be addressed. - I-Net Bridge
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