South Africa’s department of tourism has engaged police and other stakeholders to launch a joint tourism safety plan for the upcoming festive season.
Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said in a statement the sector had raised great concern about safety affecting tourism, to the extent that international arrivals to South Africa had dropped.
“Without a doubt, the challenges around safety had negatively affected our major markets,” she said.
Kubayi-Ngubane said they had crafted a workable tourism safety plan, integrating a proactive preventative measures to potential incidents, responsive measures to ensure quick and effective operational response, and an aftercare programme that focuses on measures to facilitate and provide victim support after an incident has occurred.
She also said about R40 million from the Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) levy had been reprioritised towards dealing with safety issues.
The implementation plan and the initiatives of the private sector initiatives is funded through the Tourism Business Council South Africa (TBCSA) administered Tourism Levy.
The pilot interventions include the deployment of private security at tourism hotspots and the installation of CCTV cameras as well as the deployment of drones for response.
“We want to emphasize the importance of collaborative effort in dealing decisively with the safety of our visitors and to ensure that South Africa remains a destination of choice…,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.
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