Angolans big spenders in SA

Cape Town - Angolan tourists to South Africa currently spend more per capita per visit than tourists from the United States do.

It's a fallacy that people from Africa don?t spend when travelling, said Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk at the 40th Southern African Tourism Services Association annual conference.

However, he added that the local industry "still need to focus on the European and American markets, because they are our bread and butter.

"Exploiting the Chinese market - though it is difficult to make a breakthrough there - and that of India should not be ignored."

He reckons quality control and a grading council independent of the tourism industry are issues needing attention.

The current Grading Council falls under the auspices of SA Tourism. Another thorny problem is the issue of whether a compulsory registration system should apply to all tourism entities.

If it were simply a question of setting up a database, he would find this acceptable. But it should not - as certain provinces have requested - be used as a first step to new tourism levies and taxes.

Van Schalkwyk sternly warned against a trend that is beginning to emerge in the hospitality industry - that of huge price hikes on the eve of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

To loud applause he acknowledged that the tourism industry's training organisation (seta) was not functioning as it should, and this problem needed to be addressed.

- Sake24.com

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