New System to Gauge SA's Tourism Revenue

The environmental affairs and tourism department will identify indicators to measure the effect tourism has on SA's economy, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said yesterday.

Government will spend R12m to create the Tourism Satellite Account, a mechanism developed by the World Tourism Organisation, to reflect the contribution of tourism to gross domestic product, Van Schalkwyk said in his budget speech in Parliament.

Tourism has already outstripped gold as the biggest contributor to the South African economy, with foreign tourism contributing about R53bn and domestic tourism R48bn in 2003.

The indicators will be compiled with assistance from Statistics SA, the Reserve Bank, the home affairs department and SA Tourism. They will generate information on the number jobs directly and indirectly created by tourism and the quantity of tourism investment and revenue generated by tourism across SA.

The organisation will assist with training. Canadian and Australian authorities have also been asked to assist the process.

Van Schalkwyk said SA had set itself the target of increasing foreign tourist arrivals this year 1,8%-2,1%, depending on global economic conditions.

The US market to SA appears to have recovered, with growth estimated at 9%, while the South American market was up 11%.

Much work was required in traditional markets, as economic conditions in countries such as Germany had led to dip in the number of tourist arrivals, he said.

Van Schalkwyk also announced the establishment of a panel, led by former department director general Chippy Olver, to examine the controversial issues of trophy hunting in buffer zones around national parks and "canned" lion hunting.

Van Schalkwyk said although the department was not in principle opposed to regulated and responsible hunting as an "important industry", it needed to be guided by rules set by the department.

He said the department had committed a further R193m over the next three years for new projects to bolster cross-border game parks.

Mike Ellis of the Democratic Alliance repeated earlier criticisms made by his party that the department should spend more money on conservation and environmental protection, instead of public works projects. Almost a quarter of a "small and inadequate budget" went towards public works programmes, he said.