national department of tourism (ndt)

Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society - TREES

Ndt project: tourism sector demand and supply.

Towards the end of 2020, South Africa's National Department of Tourism (NDT) opened a call for bids from South African higher education and research institutions to form part of the national department's research panel. The bid submitted by Prof Elmarie Slabbert (Director of TREES) and Dr Tafadzwa Matiza (Senior Lecturer in TREES) under the title: Tourism sector demand and supply – towards resilience was successful, and the TREES research entity of the NWU School of Tourism will be part of the consortium of research institutions to undertake significant research for the NDT from 2021 to 2023. The project's primary aim to be implemented by the NDT through the panel is to enhance the NDT's understanding of key tourism sector priority areas to deliver its mandate and South Africa's tourism masterplan. The objectives of the research initiative include:

• Increasing the role of scientific policy, relevant and applied research in contributing to the achievement of an inclusive and sustainable tourism economy,
• Improving the quality and evidence-based research outputs in the form of information, knowledge, reports, frameworks and models, as well as,
• Promoting multi-disciplinary solution-based research with tangible outcomes.

Projects to be launched over the three years will be under the following themes:

• Transformation and the tourism value chain
• Revolutionising domestic tourism
• Tourism and transport interface
• Tourism safety
• Tourism and technological innovation
• Tourism sector demand and supply

Through the various projects to be undertaken by the NDT for the sustainable competitiveness of South Africa as a tourism destination, TREES will have the opportunity significantly contribute to the NDT's National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS 2016-2026) by providing incisive and contemporary research to support policy interventions, decision-making and future project implementation. Apart from enhancing our research unit's policy-oriented and strategy formulation contributions to the South African government, the project will support TREESs' drive for scientific dissemination and the mainstreaming of Afrocentric tourism research findings to an international audience through academic publications. It is anticipated that the project will also create funding opportunities for post-graduate (masters and PhD) students in TREES and enhance our institutional collaboration with other South African, and potentially international higher education and research institutions. Moreover, the project expands the TREES research unit's research footprint to government initiatives and policy formulation in the short-to-medium term, while enhancing the profile of the NWU as a leading research institution committed to benefitting society through knowledge.

Minister launches National Tourism Sector Strategy

At the launch of the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTTS) at the Luthuli Museum in KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal today, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the national Minister of Tourism, said the strategy will help position tourism as one of the fundamental pillars of the South African economy.

“The NTSS we are launching here today is a document that the entire tourism sector in South Africa can be immensely proud of. This strategy will serve not only as a tool of inspiration to grow our sector to greater heights than ever before, but also as a map to guide us along the way and a yardstick by which to measure our performance. “I believe the NTSS will be the driver that will enable us to reach our ambitious growth targets,” Minister van Schalkwyk said.

The South African government has identified tourism as one of the key contributing sectors to the medium-term strategic priorities of growing the economy and creating decent work. Tourism’s capacity to deliver on these priorities has been strengthened through the establishment of a dedicated National Department of Tourism (NDT).

In recognising government’s facilitation role in optimising the contributions of the various role players in the tourism sector, a coherent and coordinated strategic approach to tourism development and promotion is needed.

"The NTSS is a result of intense collaboration between the NDT, an advisory panel of top industry minds, representatives of a variety of professional bodies in the tourism sector, academia, provinces, tourism-marketing agencies, civil society, local and national governments and members of the public.

"The process of formulating the strategy, gathering and incorporating comments and input and fine-tuning this product was comprehensive and consultative and the result is a sector strategy we can all collectively take ownership of,” Minister van Schalkwyk said.

The draft strategy, which was published in May 2010, made provision for a period of public comment. In total, the NDT received more than 37 000 inputs from a wide range of stakeholders, including government agencies, provinces, municipalities, associations and individuals. These were considered, and further bilateral consultations on the revised draft strategy were held with stakeholders.

The final document has therefore been more than 18 months in the making, and was formally approved by Cabinet on 2 March 2011.

"The vision of the NTSS is to position South Africa as one of the top 20 tourism destinations globally by 2020, and I believe our concerted and focused efforts as a sector will enable us to reach this goal," the Minister said.

"We all know that the tourism sector in South Africa, and its contribution to our gross domestic product (GDP), has grown tremendously in the last two decades. As a national department, and an industry, we believe we have not yet reached our full potential and the NTSS is intended to provide clear guidance on how to grow tourism’s absolute contribution to the economy.

“The NTSS recognises that tourism is a concurrent function across all spheres of government, and further acknowledges the enabling role that other government departments play in tourism. In addition, we are well aware of the vital role of the private sector and ordinary South Africans in terms of making tourism the success story it has become.

“We as a national department look forward to implementing this strategy with our partners across other spheres of government, as well as the private sector. We believe tourism is the embodiment of the idea that as a collective we can achieve exponentially more than as individual parts of a sum,” Minister van Schalkwyk said.

The overall goal of the strategy rests on four pillars, namely to:

• drive the tourism economy
• enhance visitor experiences
• position South Africa as a destination of choice
• sustain good governance in the industry

The strategy proposes mutual trust; accountability; respect for our culture and heritage; responsible tourism; transparency and integrity; service excellence; upholding the values of our Constitution; a commitment to transformation, and adaptation to change as the guiding values for the tourism sector.

They key focus areas of the NTSS are:

• Arrivals – the strategy will direct the achievement of increased numbers of tourists to South Africa by among others working towards increasing the number of foreign tourist arrivals to 15 million in 2020.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the aim is to increase tourism’s contribution to the GDP from an estimated R189.4 billion in 2009 to R499 billion by 2020.
• Job creation – the tourism sector is committed to consolidating its efforts to create jobs and aims to create 225 000 jobs by 2020.

In order to achieve these three overarching objectives, the NTSS will focus on the following:

• Domestic tourism development – The department and its partners would like to promote a culture of travel amongst South Africans. Through the NTSS we aim to increase the number of domestic trips from 30.9 million in 2009 to 54 million by 2020.
• Regional tourism development – it is becoming increasingly important that South Africa continue with its visible contribution to regional development, and the strategy is aimed at growing the value of regional tourism by establishing five SAT offices within the continent by 2020. Statistics indicates that within Africa there are markets that South Africa has not taken full advantage of in terms of the numbers of outbound tourists. Angola and Nigeria, for example, respectively recorded total outbound tourists of 264 000 and 741 000 in 2010.
• Emerging markets – South Africa has joined the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and this gives us a competitive advantage on a number of economic development endeavours. The number of outbound tourists from these markets in 2010 was more than 5.4 million from Brazil (5 497 000), more than 35 million from Russia (35 513 000), more than 12 million from India (12 497 000) and more than 31 million from China (31 664 000). Thus, the NTSS requires that in terms of the determination of target markets and marketing approaches we recognise the need to leverage on the platforms facilitated by BRICS.
• Business events – the emerging international approach to growing tourism, and business tourism in particular, is an increased focus on business events. Business events include meetings, expos, incentives, congresses, conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs. South Africa has already secured 200 international conferences for the next five years, which is estimated to attract 300 000 delegates and provide an economic boost of more than R1.6 billion.

"In this regard I can announce today that we are establishing a National Convention Bureau. We expect this Bureau to make a significant impact in terms of amongst others consolidating, co-ordinating and strengthening our efforts to attract meetings and conventions to South Africa. The Bureau will be established under the auspices of South African Tourism and will be operational early in the new financial year," Minister van Schalkwyk said.

Some of the key success factors in terms of the implementation of the NTSS have been identified as:

• Partnerships across and within the tourism sector is key to the delivery of the key focus areas and the new agenda.
• It will also be important that up-to-date market intelligence and constant information dissemination are key elements of future plans on the strategy and growth of the industry.
• People development is key to the success of the strategy and tourism growth. This will be facilitated through amongst others engaging the industry on skill development, providing support for tourism graduate placement and facilitating initiatives to increase the employment of unemployed young people.
• Transformation is an important element of growing and sustaining tourism performance and thus the NTSS will enhance initiatives for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) development and support.
• Niche product development, new international markets and rural tourism development will contribute significantly to the success of the strategy and achievements of the 2015 and 2020 targets.
• Service excellence will remain the cornerstone of the tourism experience that the country will offer to both foreign and domestic tourists.
• Responsible tourism principles shall be promoted across the sector.
• Strong working relations and consolidated efforts between the provinces and local government. This will contribute significantly to addressing geographical spread and seasonality.
• Institutional collaboration is also central to the success of the implementation of the Strategy.
• Proper and agreed monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanisms will be put in place to ensure successful implementation of the Strategy between the 2011/2012 and 2020/2021 life cycle of the Strategy.

The NTSS has responsibilities for every stakeholder segment in the sector. Its success will depend on the extent of coordination of its implementation. To ensure that there is a cooperative and collaborative approach to implementation, the NTSS provides for the establishment of a delivery forum. This is comprised of the public sector, private sector, organised labour, civil society and knowledge groups.The Director-General will convene the forum at least twice a year.

For more information visit http://www.tourism.gov.za

Media enquiries: Trevor Bloem Tel: 012 310 3631 Cell: 082 771 6729 E-mail: [email protected]

Lizzy Suping Tel: 012 310 3310 Cell: 083 758 0553 E-mail: [email protected]

Share this page

Similar categories to explore.

• Research Publications
• Student Research Corner
• Seminar/Webinar
• Research Agenda
• Advanced Search
• What is Responsible Tourism?
• Responsible Tourism Strategy
• Responsible Tourism Certification
• Greening and Climate Change
• Community Based Tourism
• The Function of Local Government
• Capacity Building
• Tourism Transport Integration
• Legislative Matters
• Registration Requirements
• Tourist Guide Identification
• Tourist Guides Media Releases
• Tourist Guide Initiatives
• Visitor Information Centres
• Visitor Information Centres Directory
• Tourism Agencies , Department, VIC databases

• Industrial Development Corporation
• National Empowerment Fund
• Tourism Enterprise Partnership
• Social Responsibility Implementation (SRI) project Currently selected

THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM'S (NDT) SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPLEMENTATION (SRI) PROJECT

What is sri programme.

The Social Responsibility Implementation Programme (SRIP) is the job creation or the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) of the Department of Tourism. The EPWP is one element within a broader government strategy to reduce poverty through the alleviation and reduction of unemployment. The Expanded Public Works Programme involves creating work opportunities for unemployed persons, and so allowing them to participate economically and contribute to the development of their communities and the country as a whole.  It addresses  the Department's tourism development and growth objectives in a manner that ensures it contributes to job creation and empowering communities through appropriate training programmes. As a job creation programme one of the main criteria of the programme is to implement projects that are labour intensive, and the objective is to increase the percentage of overall labour cost to between 30% -60% of the total project value.

THE CRITERIA FOR FUNDING OF PROJECTS

Projects that meet the EPWP requirements. A project must generate a labour content of at least 30% of the total project cost.

Projects targeting rural areas.

The projects must unlock the tourism potential and economic potential of an area and must improve the competitiveness of South African tourism industry.

Preference for funding is given to projects where the applicant/local municipality or provincial department is willing to co-fund a project and provide bulk services to a project.

Projects must be supported by the relevant provincial tourism government department and must be included in the IDP of the local municipality.

A report on the management, institutional and operational structures and processes – Who will operate and manage the project post NDT funding?

A report on the ownership structure, as well as capacity and expertise of the owning agency to operate the project post NDT funding – Who will own the project once it is completed and  what is the capacity and expertise of the owning agency to manage the project?

Community benefit – How will the community benefit from this project?

In the case of infrastructure projects, preference for funding is given to projects where the following information/documents are submitted as part of the application:

A feasibility study report covering the commercial and financial viability of the proposed tourism project, market analysis report, cost benefit analysis

Assessment and availability of bulk services emg water, sewer, electricity etc

Environmental Impact Assessment study and Record of Decision

Clarity on land ownership

Approved building plans and related documentation.

Costing of the project e.g. Bill of Quantities.

An assurance that the prescribed labour content for the project can be achieved

  WHO DO WE FUND

Communities through non-profit representative structures such as Trusts or Section 21 companies

Municipalities

State owned entities e.g Isimangaliso, San Parks

PROCESS FOR SUBMITTING PROJECT PROPOSALS

Project proposals must be submitted via the provincial department which is responsible for tourism. Priority is given to the projects which have been identified as part of the NDT consultative process with the provinces (provincial support package) as well as projects which forms part of the national and provincial tourism strategy.

TYPES OF SRI PROJECTS

The SRI programme encompasses a variety of tourism programmes e.g (this is only a guide)

Heritage tourism projects

Recreational tourism

Hospitality and accommodation facilities – lodges, guest house, B&Bs, Resorts etc

Niche tourism projects

Tourism attractions

Tourism training and capacity building projects targeting the unemployed youth

Tourism Routes

Camp and caravan Sites

Picnic Sites

Hiking Trails

Visitor/Tourism Information Centres and interpretation Centres

Nature based tourism

DISQUALIFICATION

A project that does not demonstrate any features of a labour intensive project

A project that is not supported by the provincial department

A project which is not included in the IDP of the local municipality

A project that is not tourism related and falls outside the mandate of the department

A project proposal submitted by an individual for his/her benefit i.e. no community benefit

CONTACT US : Chief Director: Social Responsibility Implementation Ms Lerato Matlakala [email protected]

  Office of the Director-General

​ Personal Assistant to the Director-General : Ms Margaret Mathebula

Telephone: +27 (0) 12 444 6377 Cell: +27 (0) 79 693 6911 Fax: +27 (0) 12 444 7090 E-mail: [email protected]

Director : Office of the Director-General: Mr Thabo Makhubedu Telephone: +27 (012) 444 6376 E-mail: [email protected]

• Manage the provision of administrative support services to the Office of the Director-General.
• Provide effective and efficient executive and secretarial support service to the Director-General.
• Provide Cabinet and cluster coordination function including parliamentary liaison to the Director-General, the department
• Manage Information Security in the Department in accordance with prescribed security procedures, rules and regulations​