- The killing of a German tourist en route to the Kruger National Park has further damaged South Africa's already-hurt reputation.
- The safety of tourists arriving for the festive season came into sharp focus during a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday.
- The department of tourism briefed on measures to ensure the safety of holidaymakers.
- Including the airing of a "recorded message on safety for the festive season" at airports across the country.
South Africa's department of tourism wants airports across the country to screen a pre-recorded festive season safety message by Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
South Africa's tourism sector has had a tumultuous time battling pandemic-induced travel restrictions, load shedding, civil unrest, and devastating floods. It's now looking forward to an influx of foreign arrivals for the first summer in two years without any prohibitive lockdown regulations.
But South Africa still has a bad reputation – that of safety and security concerns – to shake. And that reputation has been damaged even further following a highly publicised attack on a group of German tourists travelling to the Kruger National Park earlier in October. A 67-year-old tourist was shot and killed.
The fallout from that attack and slaying has been fierce. South African National Parks (SANParks) has called on visitors to the Kruger to avoid travelling on the same route used by the German tour group and fears a flurry of cancellations ahead of the usually busy summer season.
The department of tourism is considering closing the Kruger National Park's long-suffering Numbi Gate. The killing has rippled from Mpumalanga to Cape Town, with the Mother City issuing safety warnings, and Germany, where local media have highlighted the murder on front pages.
It's also drawn Parliament into the debate around the safety and security of tourists visiting South Africa, with a select committee, on Tuesday, being briefed by the department and minister of tourism on the National Tourism Safety Strategy.
Part of this strategy includes Tourism Safety Awareness Programmes, which are held in partnership with provincial authorities and the police. These campaigns issue "safety tips to passing motorists" at roadblocks and educate communities surrounding key attractions about the benefits of tourism, according to a presentation delivered by the department.
The upcoming festive season, which is typified by a surge of international arrival and local holidaymakers, will have its own dedicated awareness campaign, launching in early November.
"We're also working with provinces to make sure that there will be activations in the various provinces on safety awareness, safety sessions, and campaigns to welcome tourists into the destination [and] to say, 'you are safe' [and] this is what you need to do while you are here," said Lizzy Mathopa, the department of tourism's chief director of visitor services, on Tuesday.
This message will be extended to foreign visitors arriving at airports across South Africa, according to Mathopa.
"We are working with ACSA [Airports Company South Africa] to make sure that they give us some space in their TVs at the airports, so that we can use that to have some recordings where maybe the minister can do a 'welcome to the destination' kind of message for the festive season," said Mathopa.
The presentation delivered by Mathopa to Parliament noted that the airport TVs would be used for "ministers' recorded message on safety for the festive season."
The exact details of Sisulu's welcoming message weren't revealed to Parliament.
But what was made clear during the department's briefing, was the immense cost of running these types of messages on ACSA's TVs. When asked why these messages couldn't be displayed all year round, Mathopa noted that it was just too expensive.
"In terms of having that ongoing, it's something that we can negotiate, but, of course, it does have financial implications [and] we can look at how it works. But for now, we are trying to look at it for the festive period, to have that correct message playing over and over again," said Mathopa, adding that, in 2021, ACSA provided the department with limited space, free of charge, but it was unclear whether this same offer would be extended for the upcoming season.
"We do know that if it becomes much longer than the [festive] period, it will have serious financial implications."