Pretoria - Government and the tourism industry will continue to strengthen their relationship following South Africa's successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday.
"The World Cup opened up a new window of opportunity for the tourism industry. It is up to all of us to make use of this opportunity," van Schalkwyk said after meeting with several stakeholders in Johannesburg to analyse the impact of the tournament.
Among those who attended the meeting were Jaime Byrom of MATCH, the company appointed by FIFA to provide ticketing, accommodation and information technology services for the World Cup, Brett Dungan of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa on accommodation and Michael Tatalias of the South African Tourism Services Association.
The World Cup is said to have injected more than R39 billion to South Africa's economy contributing 0.1 percent to the country's GDP.
"We must leverage the platform the event has created to reinforce our tourism brand and our competitive positioning. This is an ideal opportunity to take stock and ensure that we create the best possible strategic fit between where we are planning to go and where the future is taking us," van Schalkwyk said.
The tournament was about the positioning of the country's destination and the positive brand value that has been unlocked was immeasurable. It helped South Africa turn the corner in terms of foreign perceptions about tourism safety.
"It was a catalyst for important infrastructure development, amongst others airports, transport and accommodation. These are all important investments in building the future capacity of the tourism sector."
Van Schalkwyk said going forward, it would be critical to focus not only on convention and events tourism, but to make a special effort to enhance capacity to bid for major events.
"Our department will continue to engage with the industry on this, the proposed National Tourism Sector Strategy as well as the proposed comprehensive new Tourism Bill," he said.
