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'SAA made a huge blunder'

Johannesburg - Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk says South African Airways (SAA) made a mistake in cancelling its flights to France.

"I think SAA made a huge blunder by cancelling flights to France," said Van Schalkwyk. "That [decision] gave a monopoly to Air France and KLM on a lucrative route."

In November 2007, SAA cancelled its flights between Johannesburg and Paris as part of its restructuring programme.

Between them, SAA and Air France were operating 10 flights a week on that route. That was set to increase to 14 by 2009, as a result of increasing demand. Air France soon increased flight prices on the route, said van Schalkwyk.

Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg on foreign tourist arrivals to South Africa over the past two years, Van Schalkwyk indirectly took a swipe at former SAA boss Khaya Ngqula, saying SAA management during Ngqula's tenure was arrogant.

"Now that we have new management, I hope SAA will be more amenable and stop being obstructionist," said Van Schalkwyk. "I hope the arrogance we've had over the last couple of years [at SAA] is going to change."

On tourist arrivals, Van Schalkwyk said the 9.6 million visitors to SA shores last year was a 5.5% improvement on 2007's number. Business travel gave a boost to the overall increase, going up 25% in the period.

SA Tourism said data from the World Travel and Tourism Council showed tourism contributed about R19bn to the country's economy, amounting to an 8.4% overall contribution to the gross domestic product in 2008.

Those tourists spent about R74bn during their stay in the country, 23.5% more than in 2007. Most were returning visitors.

However, the global recession is likely to slow down the tourism market worldwide. Said Didi Moyle, SA Tourism's acting CEO: "The economic downturn will definitely affect arrivals to SA." But the country will still record net growth at the end of the year, Moyle said.

She said the buffer for SA will be the African markets, which were not as affected by the recession as the traditional tourism markets. African tourist arrivals to SA recorded a 7% increase and make up the lion's share of the arrivals at seven million.

She said the upcoming Confederations Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup were some of the events that will boost the country's tourism sector in the next couple of years.

- Fin24.com

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