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Leaders South
Africa has identified the pivotal importance of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries in the
realization of its economic growth as envisaged by
the Accelerated and Shared Growth of South Africa
(ASGISA). The ASGISA initiative focuses on South
Africa's competitive edge in a number of key
industries such as tourism, business process
outsourcing, international call-centres,
information and communication technology,
agribusiness and synthetic fuels.This because the
hitherto untapped economic prospects that these
countries can offer (US$585bn) are above South
Africa's other trading partners: China (US$52bn)
and Japan (US$437bn) respectively, according to the
US investment bank Merrill Lynch. As
a consequence of the May 2005 four-nation Gulf
States visit by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr
Nkosazana Zuma, which strengthened diplomatic
relations, senior officials of the Department of
Environment Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) seized the
opportunity and in December 2005 hosted a series of
tourism trade workshops in the United Arab
Emirates, Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. These
trade workshops created a demand for tourism trade
and investment products, which has necessitated the
undertaking of a return mission to the region. In
this regard, a South African delegation will visit
five states in the Gulf Region next month to
promote the country's tourism, trade and investment
prospects ahead of 2010. The
delegation will visit Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from 13 to 23
February 2007. Dubbed
NEXT STOP SOUTH AFRICA campaign, the delegation
will consist of senior officials from the
departments of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Trade and Industry and will be collaborating with
the South African Foreign Missions in the
respective territories, while Etihad Airways would
sponsor certain aspects of travel and promotions.
They will be accompanied by members of the
International Marketing Council of South Africa
(IMC), which will be its third trade mission
following very successful missions to North America
in 2004 and to Europe and the United Kingdom in
2005. "We
shall be visiting the GCC Countries with an open
mind, being aware of their collective quests to
lure as much trade and investment to their shores,
balance of payments, labour and skills development
demands" said Dr Patrick Matlou, Deputy
Director-General for Tourism, who will be leading
the delegation. Furthermore,
the delegation will hold one-on-one meetings and
discussions with local business personalities, as
well as host workshops on tourism, trade and
investment opportunities in South Africa. These
events would also be utilized to allay fears about
the state of crime in the country and elaborate on
succeeding strategies to combat such that are
championed by government's security
establishments. This
is a culmination of eight &endash; months' intense
preparations by cooperating partners mentioned in
this venture, including market
intelligence. Tyrone
Seale, Head of the IMC delegation says the visit
confirms the growing importance of the Gulf Region
for South African business and investment and the
strength of bilateral relations with key countries
in the region. On
a global scale the Middle East is the sixth most
important region for South African exports and it
has grown by almost 20% in the last year. However,
there is a massive negative trade balance between
South Africa and the region caused by the import of
crude oil and petroleum products. As
a result there is a huge potential for growth in
trade outside the fuel sector. There are
significant new opportunities opening up in the
leisure and hospitality industries as well as in
the construction and engineering
sectors. The
2010 Soccer World Cup will focus global attention
on South Africa as a preferred destination for
tourism, travel, trade and investment. It also
heralds a more co-ordinated marketing effort by all
those promoting tourism, investment and trade with
South Africa abroad. "We
are confident that the NEXT STOP SOUTH AFRICA
theme, which was developed by the IMC and used in
Germany for South Africa's Campaign in Berlin with
South African Tourism, the DTI, GCIS, 2010 LOC FIFA
and the hosting cities during the unveiling of the
2010 logo ceremony would galvanise the Gulf market
to the realisation that it would be ideal to
cooperate rather than to compete in this global
economy" said Patience Molokoza, project leader and
Director, International Tourism Relations at
DEAT. Issued
by: Edwin
Sipho Rihlamvu International
Tourism Relations DEPARTMENT
OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM SOUTH
AFRICA Tel:
27 (12) 310 3940 Fax:
27 (12) 322 5754 Mobile:
073 902 4504 |
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SOUTH
AFRICA TARGETS GULF STATES FOR TOURISM PROMOTION,
TRADE AND INVESTMENT