The National Tourism Sector Strategy, updated in 2016 and approved in 2017, remains the overarching framework guiding tourism development, being a 10-year strategy until 2026. Its key pillars are: Effective Marketing, Destination Management, Facilitating Ease of Access, Visitor Experience, and Broad-based Benefits.
The implementation of the Strategy is facilitated through work streams aligned to each pillar, bringing together all actors to work on identified activities. The Effective Marketing pillar, for example, focuses on co-ordinating efforts to promote South Africa to become a top-of-mind destination and the achievement of an improved conversion rate. Prioritised markets and segments are targeted through this pillar and broader action includes improved brand management in partnership with the national brand organisation, Brand South Africa and the Ministry of International Relations and Co-operation.
The Destination Management pillar provides for the sustainable development and management of the tourism sector through practices that help organise the tourism system. These include planning, the development of standards and the development of structures and processes that organise information flows and relationships between the various stakeholders in order to optimise destination performance.
Seamless travel facilitation and access to participate in tourism is implemented through the Facilitating Ease of Access pillar, working to identify and remove barriers that limit the ability of potential international tourists to travel to South Africa and travel easily within the destination. This includes working with public sector partners to ease visa regulations and processes for tourism priority markets, and to promote air capacity and connectivity as appropriate.
The Visitor Experience pillar targets the provision of quality visitor experiences for both domestic and international tourists to increase customer satisfaction and inspire repeat visits. Enhancement of both tangible and intangible elements of the visitor experience underpin activities, including the development, maintenance and enhancement of tourist specific and related infrastructure. The development of skills and service levels, increased capacity in telecommunications, and countering safety and security concerns that could have a major bearing on the visitor experience, are examples of issues addressed through this pillar.
The Broad-based Benefits pillar seeks to promote the empowerment of previously marginalised enterprises and rural communities to ensure inclusive growth of the sector. Focus areas include targeted support for sustainable enterprise development and the expansion of benefits of tourism to rural and other previously under-served areas.
The Strategy has been given further impetus by the selection of tourism as one of the sectors targeted to contribute to higher levels of growth for the country. Focused country-level masterplans are under development to facilitate improvements in the enabling environment, infrastructure prioritisation and the destination brand.
Digital transformation has emerged as one of the major factors affecting the tourism economy (Box 2.7). In particular, for the local tourism economy, there have been developments in the short-term rental arena, prompting the development of an amendment to the Tourism Act. The draft amendment includes definitions for short-term rentals, creating an instrument to determine thresholds, and seeking to differentiate between occasional and professional home rental providers.
The proposed amendments are in response to an increasing number of home-owners listing their properties on digital platforms, with this accommodation segment growing rapidly since the initial launch of the first platform in 2009. These developments have happened without an enabling legal framework. Short-term rental as practiced through digital platforms is not provided for in any national legislation. It is thus far also not in place in any of the local authority by-laws (sub-national legislation), and municipal (local authority) planning departments have had challenges responding to concerns raised by other property owners not participating and feeling unfairly impacted by the activities of fellow property owners. Some concerns have also emerged from guest house and Bed-and-Breakfast owners, on whom compliance requirements are imposed and who therefore perceive digital platform operators to be competing unfairly. At the same time, operators argue that the platforms facilitate access to a market that would otherwise not be possible, increasing the diversity of the offer for visitors and supporting small enterprises seeking to supplement incomes. The draft provides for the Minister of Tourism to determine thresholds in respect of short-term rentals, which is defined as the renting or leasing on a temporary basis, for reward, of a dwelling or part thereof, to a visitor. Consultation is a major principle in this draft legislation as it will allow stakeholders to comment prior to the finalisation of any of its provisions.
