The only thing that’s more fun than reading a Government document is watching the sun fade the stars on your Grading Council plaque. But, as the Grading Council hasn’t yet got round to grading tourism writers (six starts for humble me, please), I don’t have the luxury of a choice, so last night I decided to take advantage of the lack of football on TV, and sat down to read the Draft National Tourism Sector Strategy from cover to cover.

Ho. Hum. We’ve seen it all before. Except, of course, for the bit on page 63 about “The media is often at fault for focusing only on negative stories and not reporting the positive stories that may boost our country’s image.” Now that’s one we’ve never heard …

And then on page 7: “In general, the population is satisfied with the performance of government over the 15 year period since the first democratic elections (so where do the service delivery protests come from? Or am I being a nasty media monster for pointing such things out?)

You really need to read this document and draw your own conclusions, but please allow me point out just some of the things that I found in it to amuse, concern, and – perhaps – even inspire me:

Page 26: “Prioritising Tourism at national Government Level – from Presidency level – and improving inter-governmental coordination.” YES, PLEASE! And it’s about time, too.

Drilling down (to use a boring bureaucratic cliché), the Document calls for “Capacity building and budget allocations at local government level in tourism planning and management.”

Refer to page 31: “Improving inter-governmental coordination.” And page 32: “Problem Statement. While tourism has been recognised by government as an important sector, this does not filter down into planning, budgets and actions across all the departments and levels within government.”

How many municipal officials know anything about tourism? Are they unaware of the amount that tourism contributes to their rates and taxes? What about Provincial officials? If this ‘Strategic Thrust’ addresses this problem, and second ant third tier government starts to work with tourism, instead of (in many cases) against it, this document will have been worth the investment.

I truly believe that this is the most important suggestion of all. (See page 41: “Capacity building for tourism at local government level is critical to improving the overall planning for and management of South Africa’s tourism industry. The current lack of specific budget allocation towards the development of tourism at local government level is particularly problematic, and should be addressed as a matter of urgency.”)

On Page 34, there’s a whiff of an admission that maybe the data we have to work with might be – um – inadequate.

Oh yeah?

There’s an important call on page 37 for a “Commitment to a Statement of Support for the National Tourism vision, mission and strategy from government at all levels and the private sector associations at all levels, include trust, developing understanding and patience in working together.”

And then on page 39 the Document address the question of Domestic Tourism: “In most successful tourism destinations around the world, the domestic market forms the backbone of the tourism industry. In South Africa – because of the apartheid history – many South Africans did not have the opportunity to travel within their own country, and are therefore not culturally used to tourism and do not participate readily in travelling and tourism to the extent that is possible. A portion of the domestic market also travels overseas or to elsewhere on the continent, and could be attracted to support the South African tourism industry and to travel here.”

A suggestion: I’ve heard of one fancy restaurant in Knysna that begins the training of its line staff by – taking them out for a meal at other fancy restaurants. This way the newbies begin to understand the fine dining experience…

As an action plan in this regard, the Document calls (page 40) for the development of “a government subsidised resort chain aimed at the middle LSM groups and new holiday travellers, offering a holistic holiday experience.”

I would argue that this makes sense. It’s the old SAR&H model, the ATKV, Hartenbos, Goudini Spa, the religious community camps, Billy Butlin’s in the UK – this is how the emerging middle class of the 1930s and 1940s learned about taking their holidays. Updated for the 21st century, it could work.

Page 44: “Develop and implement a national tourism information provision architecture which covers information provision on all SA tourism products/experiences in all provinces and major cities, and relevant information provision in municipalities (where appropriate). Ensure the architecture has an central electronic database as its basis
Download the Draft National Tourism Sector Strategy.”

You mean – AGAIN?

There’s a damning admission on page 45: “Tourism product development is currently driven mainly by the private sector, with some activity by national, provincial and local governments which has in the large not been successful. There is no co-ordination from a national level to ensure that there is alignment between the marketing promises made at national level and product development.

“Often the experience visitors are exposed to is brought down by the poor quality, poor management and lack of maintenance of cultural and heritage attractions, which also damage the image of our destination.”

For which the proposed solution (page 46) is to “Develop and implement a strategy to upgrade tourism attractions and heritage resources – including museums, monuments, etc. – across the country with the assistance from the Dept of Arts & Culture and working through local government or other government entities (e.g. Dept of Public Works, provinces), where applicable.”

This, according to the document is a BOLD STEP. I’m in private enterprise.

I, on the other hand would classify it is as a BASIC BUSINESS PRACTICE.

On page 47: “There are significant operational issues related to the implementation of the Tourism Grading Scheme.” But if you’ve been following This Tourism Week, you’ll know the problem goes much deeper than that. See my article (Is the Grading Council Nuts?) here – and be sure to read the 48 or so comments that it garnered…

Dude, the Quality Assurance and Universal Accessibility programmes need the buy-in of the industry. A return to the drawing board might be appropriate…

As to the Action item on page 48: “Implement the recommendations from the KPMG review on current grading scheme as soon as possible” – there’s only one comment to make: Don’t.

Especially in the case of the Grading Criteria, the industry’s pretty much rejected them already.

… And that, I think, is where we’ll leave things for today…

Download the Draft National Tourism Sector Strategy here or here, and e-mail your comments to strategy@tourism.gov.za no later than 31 July 2010.

For enquiries, call Lizzy Suping: 012 310 3310 or Ronel Bester: 021 465 7240.

No – go away on holiday. It’s in the economy’s best interests.