Johannesburg - While businesses in the tourism industry are still making a killing, it is only a matter of time before profits start dwindling.
This is the view of Michael Talias, the chief executive of the Southern African Tourism Services Association, an organisation that represents about 900 businesses.
Talias said last week the recent xenophobic attacks and the political crisis in Zimbabwe were the main reasons cited by tourists when they cancelled trips to South Africa.
"Many foreigners have a perception that the southern African countries are the same country. When there is unrest in Zimbabwe, they think the whole region is affected," he said.
Talias said the government should step-up its efforts to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis and also ensure that attacks on foreigners did not happen again.
He added that even the petrol price, which has leapfrogged by 57.5% to R10.66 this month compared to R6.77 this time last year, would start playing a major role in repelling foreigners from paying the country a visit.
"The high fuel prices have caused the airline companies to raise the prices of plane tickets substantially.
And it is only a matter of time before the tourism industry will start experiencing a bumpy ride," he said.
Business doing well
Joe Motsogi, the owner of a transport company, JMT Tours and Safaris, said the only way to deal with the escalating fuel price was to hike fares.
Motsogi said, however, his business, which transported a minimum of 150 tourists a month, was doing pretty well.
This was mainly due to the fact that he customised transport services to suit his customers' needs, he said.
He said 60% of his customers were foreigners while the remainder were locals.
Charmian Cooke, the spokesperson for Mpumalanga-based Djuma Game Reserve, said 1 100 tourists came to the farm last month. In June 2006 the farm accommodated 1 060 tourists. Only 10% were locals.
Peter Drof, a sales manager at MalaMala Game Reserve, which is next to the Kruger National Park, said the business had not experienced a downward spiral.
Instead, the game reserve had been seeing a steady increase in tourists. In June 2006 the game farm was visited by 1 000 tourists, while last month it accommodated 1 050 visitors.
Aggressive marketing
Drof said their secret to success was an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at foreigners.
The farm charged a minimum amount of $850 (about R6 530) per person per night.
However, Drof said he was worried about the future as some international tourists were cancelling their bookings because they feared they might be affected by the Zimbabwe crisis.
Kate Naughton, a marketing director of Madikwe Game Reserve in North West, said the number of customers had increased by 30% from June 2006 to now.
Meanwhile, Motsogi advised that entrepreneurs keen on starting companies to transport tourists across the country should start by getting accreditation from the Transport Education Training Authority.
He said other credentials needed were a carrier permit, public driver's permit (PDP) and reasonable knowledge of South African history.
The carrier permit, which is valid for five years, could be obtained from the trade and industry department for R200.
An entrepreneur could apply for the PDP at a cost of about R400.
- City Press