KIEV, April 12. /TASS/. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which suffered the worst disaster in the history of the nuclear power industry in 1986, has opened for tourists. According to the NPP’s press service, apart from the industrial area where most facilities are located, including the Shelter Object covering the disaster-hit fourth reactor, tourists will also be able to take a tour of the previously inaccessible interior premises, particularly the third reactor’s control room.

Applications can be filed through the official website of the Chernobyl NPP. A basic package tour costing 2,700 hryvnias (around $100), includes a brief instruction, a guide’s services, a meal at the nuclear plant’s canteen and personal protective equipment. According to the guidelines, tourists must be 18 or over to qualify to visit the facility.

After the tour of the nuclear plant, visitors will be tested for radiation and get a certificate for the radiation dose they were exposed to.

The nuclear plant’s management does not rule out that the area open for tourists may be expanded in the future, in addition the duration of tours may increase to two or three days.

Chernobyl disaster

The disaster at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant occurred in the small hours of April 26, 1986. More than 200,000 square kilometers of land, first and foremost, in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, became contaminated.

Around 115,000 people were evacuated from the 30-kilometer-wide affected zone.

The subsequent clean-up operation involved more than 600,000 people, about ten percent of whom died, and 165,000 became disabled.

Thanks to the dedicated work of the disaster’s responders coming from all over the Soviet Union, a concrete structure covering the nuclear reactor No. 4 was installed - known as the Shelter Object - in November 1986.

In November 2016, an international consortium installed a new arch-shaped confinement.</s>“IN planning and architecture, it should always be people first, then planet Earth, economy, culture, history, heritage, interfaith, and spirituality.”

Endowed with rich natural resources, the Philippines can promote more nature-based tourism. Tourism brings in tremendous benefits in terms of economic stability, especially for small islands and provinces. With the Philippines being an archipelago, many of our islands rely on tourism for livelihood. These small islands have limited possibilities for other economic activities apart from tourism. But tourism also brings negative impacts on the environment and cultural preservation.

In developing such islands, short-term economic benefits should be weighed against long-term environmental and cultural effects, among others. Boracay island is a perfect example. Despite Boracay’s huge contribution to the Philippines’ tourism industry and GDP growth, the uncontrolled tourism developments there created imbalance in the region and damage to the environment.

Looking at sustainable tourism (Briguglio Archer, et al.), there are various disciplines that are involved and have their own perspective on how to define “sustainability” for tourism, such as economics, anthropology, environmental studies, sociology, architecture, etc. From an economic point of view, tourism is highly favorable because it brings in employment, income, and foreign exchange. However, this point of view disregards socio-cultural, environmental, and architectural impacts. In terms of land use, uncontrolled tourism brings in overcrowding, overdevelopment, and pollution. For islands that rely heavily on tourism, their economy can be referred to as TouRAB. This term is derived from the acronym MIRAB coined in the 1980s by Bertram and Watters, which describes economies that greatly depend on migration, remittances, aid, and bureaucracy. Seeing as how future tourism trends are directed towards tourism destinations that have untouched pristine, natural, cultural, and architectural experiences, there is a need to preserve and enhance the current environment and promote sustainable tourism. It should always be kept in mind that tourism should not be the end goal. Medical assistance, education, communication services, and public safety, among other sectors, must be considered as well to create a holistic development.

The World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report in 2017 listed down the performance of countries in terms of the following indexes—safety and security, health and hygiene, ICT readiness, natural resources, business environments, environmental sustainability, tourist service infrastructure among others. It says that while the Philippines is performing well on pricing, the environmental sustainability, cultural resources and business travel, safety and security, and ground and port infrastructure aspects scored low in the ranking.

Moreover, climate change should be a consideration, especially for tourist islands. The greenhouse effect involves the rise of sea levels which lead to land loss. Tourist islands being heavily dependent on its natural beaches, climate change has adverse effects on the beaches and tourism infrastructure. There should be strict implementation of the coastal setback; international standards imply a 50-meter setback. In the long run, should similar tourism islands in Philippines develop without interventions, not only will nature-based tourism decline, but the country’s natural resources may be endangered. It is like we are “killing the golden goose that lays the golden egg” like Boracay.

Bermuda, a tourism case study

 Given Bermuda’s size, topography, ambience and climate which likely resemble the Caribbean, the island was very much suited for tourism. And with the construction of an airport and the expansion of cruise ship tourism, Bermuda’s tourism increased by 10 times. However, upon reaching its peak in the 1980s with about half a million tourist arrivals, it suddenly dropped to a hundred thousand visitors in 1992. The drastic decrease in tourist arrivals caused closures of major resorts, which in turn led to decrease in hotel jobs. Through undergoing intensive development, providing adequate and holistic tourist, and strategizing for longer average stays, Bermuda was able to recover its tourism industry. This is an example of sacrificing short-term financial benefits for a long-term and sustainable tourism development.

The Philippines is rich in natural resources, number one in marine biodiversity; with the fourth longest coastline in the world; number five in natural flora and fauna, and in all other mineral resources. We Filipinos should exert more effort in preserving and enhancing our natural environment and resources, especially Boracay and other endangered islands.</s>Baku. 14 April. REPORT.AZ/ The groundbreaking ceremony of the first Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Turkey was held.

Report informs referring to the Turkish media, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz also attended the meeting.

According to the report, the construction will cost of 8 billion dolllars. The plant will endure 9 point-earthquake. The plant is expected to put into operation by the end of 2016.</s>“From hidden gems, unique destinations and one-of-a-kind experiences, tourism continues to play a pivotal role in our province’s economy as Alberta’s reputation as a world-renowned tourist destination grows. The strong performance of Alberta’s tourism sector in 2016 shows its resiliency and continued potential to diversify the economy, create jobs and generate investment in communities across the province.”

Markets in the United States, overseas and rest of Canada drove the total growth of Alberta’s tourism sector in 2016. International visits and expenditures increased by 10.9 and 14.1 per cent, respectively. Visits and spending from the rest of Canada increased by 9.4 and 15.1 per cent, respectively.

To maintain the positive momentum, the government is continuing to deliver strategic programs and services to expand the tourism industry, maximize opportunities and support Alberta’s tourism businesses, entrepreneurs and communities.
• Strategic Tourism Marketing: Continued strong investment to market Alberta tourism nationally and internationally, attracting new visitors and growing the visitor economy.
• Access to land: Clarifying regulations and process for securing publicly owned land for investment into new or expanded tourism products.
• Tourism Entrepreneurship Programs: Provide tools and services to help entrepreneurs start tourism businesses, and help existing tourism entrepreneurs innovate, expand or refresh their operations.
• Tourism Growth Innovation Fund: Project-based grant program that supports the economic, socio-economic and community goals of Alberta’s tourism sector.
• Visitor Services Innovation Fund: Helps visitor-service providers develop new ways to connect with more travellers.
• Cooperative Marketing Investment Program: Supports the growth of Alberta’s tourism industry by investing in Alberta industry-led marketing initiatives to increase marketing capacity, resulting in increased tourism revenues.
• Indigenous Tourism: Programs and services to support Indigenous entrepreneurs and communities to grow and expand tourism products. This includes working collaboratively with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada to establish a provincial Indigenous tourism strategy and the Alberta Indigenous Tourism Association.</s>IT GOES without saying that Lionel Messi is one of the greatest footballers on the planet. And now, he has made driving responsible tourism for our planet his responsibility.

United Nations’ World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili officially appointed Messi as UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism after an F.C. Barcelona – Leganés match in Barcelona over the weekend.

“Messi is a unique sportsman and an example of how willpower and constant work yield good results. It is a great honor to have Messi joining UNWTO and other well-known personalities in promoting the positive values and benefits that tourism represents,” said Pololikashvili.

SEE ALSO: Cristiano Ronaldo urges support for the Rohingya

Together with UNWTO, Messi will promote the value of responsible tourism, which the UN defines as tourism which “helps maximise the sector’s benefits while minimising its potentially negative impact on the environment, cultural heritage and societies across the globe”.

The need for sustainable and responsible tourism has come to the forefront of countries around the world, as destinations like Thailand’s phenomenal islands are now buckling under the weight of overtourism and Cambodia’s orphaned children are being exploited in “voluntourism”.

It’s fair to say that it’s a huge role for the five-time Ballon D´Or winner to take on.

“During my travels, I have had the opportunity to know other cultures and societies as well as others ways to see the world and this is very enriching,” Messi said.

“The World Tourism Organisation as a specialised agency of the United Nations works to make tourism a source of development and I am happy I can join this mission of promoting responsible tourism.”

Messi isn’t the only public figure who has been sanctioned by the organisation. He joins a couple of influential personalities in championing the transformative power of responsible tourism. In February 2018, Spanish footballer Fernando Hierro was named Ambassador for Responsible Tourism.

“As tourists, each of us can change the world if we act responsibly with regard to the places, the people and the cultures we visit. I feel part of this team and I support the World Tourism Organisation in its efforts to ensure that tourism benefits everyone,” Hierro said upon accepting the distinction from Pololikashvili. Hierro joined the likes of Spanish football coach Vicente del Bosque, who was also named Ambassador for Responsible Tourism, as well as a score of tourism ministers and stakeholders. Interestingly, Sanrio’s beloved superstar “cat” Hello Kitty was also appointed a UNWTO ambassador. SEE ALSO: Japan Railways partners with Hello Kitty for pink Shinkansen Last year, UNWTO and Sanrio signed an agreement to appoint Hello Kitty as Special Ambassador of the International Year. The Japanese darling supported UNWTO’s “Travel. Enjoy. Respect” campaign which encourages tourists to use travel to promote positive change around the world. “Travelling opens our minds and our hearts and lets us see how we are equal,” Hello Kitty said in the campaign video. “Travelling is a gift. When you travel, remember to honor our place. Respect nature, respect culture and respect your host.” The video was shown at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, inviting travelers to take part in the campaign. This article originally appeared on our sister website Travel Wire Asia.</s>Lagos State Government has said the forthcoming tourism summit to be hosted by the state is designed to provide resourceful content for the proposed state tourism master plan for the tourism industry.

Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, speaking ahead of the summit informed that summit was crucial to intimate and integrate key players in the tourism industry to achieve a prosperous initiative as the state journey into the tourism world to compete with developed cities.

‘’The summit will list out in specific terms the interventions that are needed in producing a master plan that assist in shaping the tourism sector in Lagos State in the next 15 to 20 years. It has been a deliberate plan derived from a visionary study of the population trend and analysis of what sector will better absorb the teeming youth population, reduce poverty and crime as well as create jobs with multiplier effects on other sectors.”

Affirming the significant of the event, the Commissioner stated that encouraging existing practitioners and stakeholders with institutional support and sustaining positive hope of investors in the sector needs a more concrete rejig in line with global best practices.

‘’The idea of the Lagos Tourism Summit, therefore, is part of the inclusive agenda to allow all stakeholders contribute to the ongoing tourism master plan being put together by Messrs Earnst and Young on behalf of the Lagos State Government.

He further disclosed that the summit deliberation will be enriched by paper presentations by renowned Stakeholders in the tourism business; panel discussions and a Keynote Address to be delivered by His Excellency, Mr. John Mahama, the former President of the Republic of Ghana.</s>ESSEX — Norm Needleman, Essex First Selectman and candidate for the State Senate for the 33rd District, today announced 3his support for new initiatives to promote tourism in Connecticut.

Needleman said: “The most recent data shows that tourism delivers $14.7 billion in annual revenue to the state, and supports 120,000 sector jobs. Every dollar invested in promoting tourism returns three dollars in revenue.

“That’s why I support the initiatives developed by The Connecticut Tourism Coalition. The proposed initiatives are common sense ideas that will enhance our tourism presence, which is key to building revenue:
• Create of a 15 member volunteer Tourism Advisory Committee, whose role will be to recommend strategies to the Office of Tourism for maximizing use of tourism funds.
• Appoint a Director of Tourism, a new position reporting directly to the governor
• Commit 3 percent of all taxable lodging revenue as a sustainable source of tourism funding

Needleman continued: “Connecticut is blessed with a wealth of historical, entertainment, lodging and recreation options. It makes sense for us to revitalize and sustain support for tourism. That investment will yield significant financial returns, and make our state more competitive with states that border us.”

The 33rd State Senate District consists of the towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Portland, Westbrook, and a portion of Old Saybrook.</s>An intense week of exchange of experiences and capacity building linked to wildlife and biodiversity protection has taken place in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A major result of the regional initiative that lies under the framework of the UNWTO/Chimelong Programme on Wildlife and Sustainable Tourism has been the Declaration of Kinshasa that addresses poaching and carbon footprint as major concerns of the sector.

The Regional Conference served to summarize the itinerary training workshops conducted throughout 2017 which encouraged local communities and tourism stakeholders to act as champions of biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. As a result, more than 120 people were trained last year from Niger, Gabon, Benin, Guinea and Democratic Republic of the Congo to give them the skills to design and implement local champion initiatives in their respective countries, which they showcased during the conference.

During the opening ceremony, which welcomed more than 100 participants from the five countries in addition to Zimbabwe, the Minister of Tourism of the Democratic Republic of the Congo H.E. Franck Mwe di Malila Apenela underscored “the vital importance of the link between tourism development and biodiversity conservation”, and that “it is not a coincidence that the upcoming UNWTO Agenda for Africa encapsulates it as one of its key priorities”. Mr. Shanzhong Zhu, UNWTO Executive Director, hoped that “the results presented during the conference will provide opportunities to generate economic benefits while stimulating protection and appropriate management of biodiversity in harmony with the sustainable development of tourism”.

The opening ceremony was followed by a key note speech by Seamus Kearney, journalist and producer, who emphasized the potential to involve the media in sustainable tourism-based initiatives and the need to communicate with honesty, transparency and honesty.

The UNWTO delegation comprised of Mr. Shanzhong Zhu, Executive Director and Mr. Jaime Mayaki, Deputy Director of the Africa Programme, was also officially received by the Prime Minister of DRC, H.E. Bruno Tshibala, during which they highlighted the key nexus between economic diversification, tourism development and biodiversity conservation in DRC and welcomed the vision of the government of DRC to put tourism as a priority for job creation.

A panel debate involving the Ministers of Tourism of DRC Franck Mwe di Malilia Apenela and of Niger, Ahmet Botto, together with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitalty Industry of Zimbabwe, Dr. Thokozile Chitepo and UNWTO Executive Director, Shanzhong Zhu stressed the relevance of institutional communications and coincided in the potential of engaging tourism authorities on wildlife conservation measures.

Involving local communities, develop educational programmes liaised to sustainable tourism and increasing awareness on biodiversity and wildlife were some of the themes underlined in the ministerial debate.

“The achievements of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development that we celebrated in 2017, the Lusaka Declaration on Sustainable Tourism and Community Engagement in Africa and the First African Charter on Sustainable and Responsible Tourism adopted by the COP22 constitute the best framework to advance the tourism sector towards more sustainable practices,” said the UNWTO Executive Director Shanzhong Zhu.

As the Declaration expresses, the undersigning countries commit to “reinforce the role of Sustainable Tourism as a lever for local development and support for the conservation and preservation of the environment” and “to become involved in strengthening the conservation of biodiversity, raise awareness and fight against various forms of over-exploitation of resources including poaching and reduce the carbon footprint of tourism-related activities”.

Strategic Communications at the core of the cause

Besides the Regional Conference, the delegates participated in a training workshop on communications and media relations led by Ms. Rut Sobrino Gomez, UNWTO media project manager for the UNWTO/Chimelong Programme. Under the topic of communicating the link between wildlife and sustainable tourism, public officers from these countries analyzed the potential of wildlife in the promotion of their destinations and revised the strategic communications methodologies and practices that can facilitate their work.

The workshop included an exhaustive revision of theoretical and practical approaches of strategic communications as well as of the different modalities of media relations. The creation of innovative products to attract the interest of journalists, building trust-based relations with the media communities and empowering outlets as advocates of wildlife protection and sustainable tourism were part of the training activity. Through working groups participants had the opportunity to build communications strategies for their touristic products, like the parks of Zongo and Malebo in DRC.

Both the workshop on Communications and Media Relations as well as the Regional Conference take place within the framework of the UNWTO/Chimelong Programme. This initiative, which is being implemented between 2017 and 2019, addresses the potential of sustainable tourism as key driver of wildlife protection and conservation in Africa and in Asia. The Programme integrates capacity building of tourism administrations, media engagement on these themes including a Journalism Prize and talent development through a fellowship program, among other actions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).</s>Delta State Government says it will hold a fiesta to showcase its tourism potentials with a view to attract both local and foreign investors, reports.

The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr Chinye Emmanuel, disclosed this when he visited the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) in Abuja on Thursday.

The Commissioner said the three-day fiesta, which is scheduled to hold between July and August, was expected to attract both local and foreign tourists in the state to tap from its vast potentials.

According to him, the platform will also provide an avenue for the people to also showcase their rich culture, food, music and fashion during the event.

“In view of the dwindling oil resources and economic downturn, the need to look inward and think outside the box to find other sources of revenue must be explored.

“I believe strongly that tourism is that alternative, if properly harnessed, has the capacity to rejuvenate the economy of this nation,” he said.

He gave assurance that the security of the lives and property of people, irrespective of the nationality were safe in the state.

“Today, you can walk freely in Delta state, whether you are a black or white man unlike in the past, where you hear about kidnapping.

“No more crime as such in Delta state, so with that foreigners will be free to come in and move round Delta state freely,’’ he said.

He said the visit was to garner the support from NTDC and NIHOTOUR to host tourism fairs, expos, training, cultural programmes, develop its historical sites and monuments, as well as its eco-system in other to promote domestic tourism.

Responding, the Director-General, NTDC, Mr Folunrunso Coker assured the state government of the corporation’s support in harnessing the tourism potentials in the state.

“Tourism is a business to look at in Delta state and I assure you of our support in making the event successful and promoting tourism potentials in the state and nation at large,” he added.

Similarly, the Director General, NIHOTOUR, Mrs Chika Balogun, assured the Delta government that the institute would continue to support it, especially in the training of its tourism and hospitality officers.

“We assure you of our support in training and retraining of your officers in tourism and hospitality industry to meet up with global standard to create a vibrant tourism sector,” she added.

Balogun, therefore, encouraged the state government to expedite action in developing some of its tourist sites to increase tourism in the state and reduce movement to other countries for holidays and tourism.</s>CAPE TOWN — We so often create the biggest barriers to our own growth; it’s true of our individual and our corporate selves. Finding out what’s in the way often unlocks undreamt of potential. Here Paul Bannister, CEO of the strategic marketing consultancy Ignite, expands on an idea from Biznews founder Alec Hogg earlier this week. That was to redirect some of the billions intended for the much-sought re-industrialisation of South Africa into boosting tourism by creating hundreds of owner-operated tour buses. Bannister looks at what’s in the way of offering the world the tourism pearl that is South Africa. Tourism is a highly flexible, simple and quick way of creating economic growth. With a few illustrative stats such as the greater numbers of Brits travelling to remote Australia versus South Africa, he identifies local roadblocks impeding travel on our vast tourism highway. Things like the unabridged birth-certificate requirements, short-stay visas that limit overseas “swallow” visitors, the value competitiveness of flights from the UK, poor public transport mobility, the lack of sufficient beach resorts and of course the hardy-annual; crime and personal security. Now that the tourism-repellent Zuptoids are on the way out and concerns like Listeriosis and Cape Town’s Day Zero water threat are gone, there’s much innovation available. Bannister has several suggestions. – Chris Bateman

As a country we need to urgently unlock the potential of tourism as tourism is really a potential ‘quick and sustainable win’ from an economic growth perspective :
• 
• None It can be turned on relatively quickly
• None It provides job for a wide range of skilled and un-skilled people
• None It can provide growth points in the cities and in the rural areas.
• None It is as much about ‘attitude’ (a welcoming environment) as it is about financial investment.

It would appear as if President Ramaphosa understands this as he singled out tourism as a major strategic pillar of the economy and spoke of additional funding. He also returned Minister Hanekom to the national Tourism portfolio and judging by his comments at a recent WESGRO report back, the Minister understands both the potential and the challenges.

As an indication of what is possible let’s consider the UK as an out-bound market. It is SA’s number One international market and has been for years it is also a substantial market for Australia:

Australia outperforms South Africa by over 70% with arguably an inferior intrinsic product that is far more difficult and expensive to access from an air access perspective. This leads us to ask the Question – ‘WHY’

The President spoke about allocating more funding to tourism but the challenges we have to grow tourism in SA are not so much about marketing the destination’s amazing attributes but more about addressing the barriers, many of which are ‘self-imposed and/or ‘self -inflicted’. These ‘barriers’ make it extremely challenging for visitors, particularly first time visitors, to come to SA. There is a concern, which appears to be confirmed by the relatively poor growth (+6%) year on year for January 2018, that, despite the obvious potential that tourism has as an economic generator, the issues that South Africa faces are currently combining to comprise a ‘perfect storm’.

Bearing in mind that ‘perceptions are peoples’ reality’ these are some of the issues that need to be urgently addressed: (Please note that this list is illustrative, not exhaustive and the ideas are embryonic!):
• PERSONAL SAFETY / CRIME / CORRUPTION – We simply have to get national and provincial police on board and effective. We have to create a safe environment (this is an absolute fundamental for our own citizens lets alone our visitors!) and take back the open spaces and the streets from an increasingly violent criminal element. We need to harness technology, as per the ‘drone technology’ now being used to combat rhino poaching . There have been some interesting developments in terms of the possible development of a ‘tourism buddy’ app which visitors (and locals) could access to provide tourism information but also a direct safety/security link. Perhaps a more simple and obvious solution is to enable more visible policing on our streets by harnessing the energy and ability of our substantial retired community to ‘man’ the police stations and handle the administrative load leaving the able bodied force to get out onto the streets.
• VISA REGIME AND PROCESS – we need home affairs to shift their perspective to facilitate not inhibit tourism. It will be interesting to see how the ‘re-instated’ Minister of Home Affairs addresses the problems that he himself created in terms of Visas and Birth Certificates. As a very practical and easily implementable change – SA currently grant tourists a 90 day maximum visa….the ‘swallows’ (travellers from the northern hemisphere seeking to escape the winter) would happily stay for up to 180 days – it’s a simple change which could possibly almost double our swallow expenditure in the local economy……and then there is the matter of the need for a ‘univisa’ for Southern Africa as visitors wish to travel to places and events that extend beyond ‘geo-political’ boundaries – let’s make it easy for them!
• None Supposedly introduced by the self-same Home Affairs Minister to stop child trafficking through our major points of entry the unabridged birth certificate confusion has cost the country thousands of bookings…….and does this really stop ‘cross border’ movement of adults and children into and out of neighbouring countries through fairly porous borders?
• AIR ACCESSIBILITY Wesgro’s air access project in the Cape has yielded excellent results in terms of additional seat capacity but still needs to: get direct access from the USA; increase the value competitiveness of flights from the UK; and critically, get SAA aligned (they closed the CT-LDN direct route and sold-off the valuable Heathrow landing slot). The debate over the role and purpose of SAA has to take place – is it intended to be a national carrier or a commercial airline ? Tourism needs a National airline that maximizes access and egress. Emirates gets it, Turkish Airlines gets it….even Ethiopian Airlines gets it!
• THE NEGATIVE NARRATIVE AMONGST THE SA DIASPORA located within the source countries – South Africans too often default to ‘talking down’ SA as they have ‘left usually for political reasons’ whereas Aussies, for example, always talk up Australia (but don’t mention the cricket) wherever and whenever they travel. Australia, understands the power of a Nation brand, and is now riding the wave of successfully hosting the Commonwealth Games . It’s a great pity that Durban didn’t want to do this in 2022 as it is often seen as a precursor to hosting the Olympics. Despite #Ramaphoria , the latest emigration wave as a result of the ‘zuptoidification’ of South Africa continues to drain the best young talent that our economy desperately needs to retain.
• PRODUCT GAPS: BEACH RESORTS – South Africa doesn’t hardly have any (MAURITIUS attracts over 750 000 international visitors per annum with only beach resorts – and all through one very modest airport! The GREY NOMADS a fascinating and wealthy target market segment. Travel around Australia and you will find ‘Grey Nomads (over 60 couples in their 4X4s) camping and renting beach cottages at beautifully appointed sites all around Australia – this segment is one of the bedrocks of the Australian domestic tourism economy.
• MOBILITY : safe, clean, accessible and affordable public transport in the cities and around the country. The need for a fully integrated, safe, dependable and affordable public transport system in our cities is self-evident for people who have visited world class cities like Toronto, Melbourne or Zurich where one card gets you anywhere on any form of public transport. Is it logical or rational to have a national rail operator (PRASA) run (for want of a better word) the metro rail system in Cape Town – the frustrated Cape Town commuters can answer that one!
• None other than the city centres of Cape Town and Sandton there has been relatively little investment in hospitality in SA post the 2010 World Cup owing to lack of confidence in the prospects for the country as a result of policy and political uncertainty. The ‘Bell Pottinger/Zupta generated and amplified ‘popularist’ messaging such as ‘ radical economic transformation ’ and ‘ white monopoly capital ’ has served to further discourage local and/or international investment and now the EWC ( Expropriation without compensation ) narrative has added to the negative sentiment.
• DOMESTIC TOURISM : a dynamic domestic tourism economy is the foundation of most tourism economies worldwide: South Africa has not as yet developed a viable and wide reaching domestic tourism economy. Arguably we don’t have either the products – holiday camps, affordable beach and bush cottages and well-equipped and safe camp sites, etc – or the safe and affordable means of public transport.
• HEALTHCARE : It is sadly true that any health/disease ‘outbreak’ in Africa (such as Ebola in Liberia) tends to lead to cancellations across the continent owing to the lack of understanding of the size of the continent and the prevailing mood of ‘afro-pessimism’ in developed economies. The incidence of Avian Flu and the current Listeriosis situation has added substance to the perceptions of healthcare concerns in South Africa.
• WATER : Whereas the DAY ZERO campaign has been ‘justified’ in terms of changing domestic usage patterns in the Western Cape it undoubtedly impacted negatively on inbound international tourism. The shift in the narrative to ‘the first global City to demonstrate how the new reality of limited water availability can be handled sustainably’ has undoubtedly helped as has the City and Wesgro’s reassurance that life and events continue as ‘normal’….but the politicisation of the situation, in the pre #Ramaphoria period, has also exacerbated the situation.

HOW DO WE START TO REALISE OUR REAL TOURISM POTENTIAL
• None We need to get agreement, alignment and commitment from all of the role players – supply side, demand side, and the enabling environment about the issues that need to be addressed.
• None It is not productive to continue to ascribe blame
• None We need to convene a real tourism indaba with key objectives of ‘alignment, agreement and commitment’ to tangible actions and the development of an aggressive tourism growth strategy.
• None The key players from the supply side, the demand side and the enabling environment need to get into the same room and not only work out the key actions required to make South Africa more competitive (a top 20 tourism economy by 2020 on the WEF tourism index with 20 million incoming visitors was the ‘unwritten’ goal pre 2010), but critically to reach agreement and commitment as to who must complete each action and by when. There can be no dissenters and no political agendas or race cards should be allowed.
• None SOUTH AFRICA needs to get itself back onto a competitive growth path ( as per the vision 2030 strategy
• None We should start with tourism to demonstrate how a sector can grow in an inclusive, sustainable and exponential manner.
• None Tourism needs to be the inspiration to the nation and demonstrate that a sector that works together wins together
• None We need to convene a real tourism indaba and get the process moving .
• None We now have a National Tourism Minister who understands the needs and who has the ear of the President
• None Now is the time to act.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant opens its doors to tourism.