THE recent xenophobic violence has dealt a significant blow to South Africa, damaging the country’s brand and standing in the family of nations, tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said last Friday.
South Africans must resist the lie that is starting to take root in the public discourse which seeks to suggest that they are xenophobic, or afrophobic, Kubayi-Ngubane said at an event in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal province, marking World Tourism Day on Saturday.
“The perpetuation of this lie, sometimes through our own media and through the distribution of fake videos of violence against migrants, has dealt a significant blow in our country’s brand, and our standing in the family of nations,” she observed.
As South Africans celebrated the day, they must remember the historic injustices of the past which led to the majority of South Africans not enjoying travelling their own country, said the minister.
Since the discovery of gold in what is today Johannesburg, African migrants who came to work in the mines settled and made South Africa their permanent home.
This migration pattern has continued unabated since then, and South Africans have lived peacefully together with other Africans for many years, she added.
“The lie that South Africans have suddenly developed hatred for other Africans cannot be sustained,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.
Recent trends have shown that the number of international arrivals to South Africa have been on the decline.
This development poses a great danger to the survival of South African businesses and job opportunities, and ultimately the economy, she warned.
“This decline of tourist arrivals in our country is happening at a time when the number of tourists are increasing globally. This means that tourists are choosing other tourist destinations than our country,” Kubayi-Ngubane stressed.
If tourists don’t feel welcome in South Africa, they will go elsewhere.
“We need to work together to ensure that tourists who come to our country feel safe to enjoy their holiday and take away memorable experiences,” said the minister.
She thus urged South Africans to make a concerted effort to continually increase the levels of hospitality and friendliness, and the general level of service.
Tourism is one of the sectors which has the highest potential to absorb both skilled and unskilled people, ranging from tour guides who can enter the sector without a matric certificate to hotel managers, Kubayi-Ngubane said.
“The only way that we will be able to create jobs in the tourism sector is by increasing the number of tourists in our country, both domestic and international,” she continued.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has made an ambitious target of increasing the number of tourist arrivals to 21 million by 2030.
“We believe that our country has all the necessary tourism elements to achieve this target,” said Kubayi-Ngubane. – Nampa-Xinhua
