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Michael Dawson • 4 years ago

Disagree. We have not touched 10% of the tourism potential - not saying we must flood the country. We must move away from the "off the shelve" or core hotspots with reference to accommodation. There are so many other venues within 50kms of the major centres and then also we have the country side. However speak to the Tourist guide and coach Operator and they will tell you what will and can work. Time to get your ears down to ground level as SAT is only interested in the corporate opinion. We are far from a successful tourism destination. Open the gates so we can secure 1% of Chinese travelers, 1% of Indian travelers, 1% of European Travelers and 1% of the Americas. As my late Dad used to say "manage any point of contention" thus saying introduce large type vehicles that can carry 100 pax at a time from the gate to the Point and start with Reservation times for groups hence Sanparks can plan for high season. Conversely seek travelers like the Indians and Chinese who travel throughout the year. Selfish Corporate decisions given to SAT will affect the sustainability of SME's

barry • 4 years ago

Hi Martin,
I couldn't agree more with your comments above. Here in Cape Town, especially during the Christmas and New Year period, it becomes obvious that the infrastructure cannot cope. We had quite a few guests who didn't get into the Cape Point Nature Reserve because they weren't prepared to wait for 2 hours just to get past the entrance !
There has to be a better way to get guests through faster ?

Monika Iuel • 4 years ago

In principle 100% agreed. High volume tourism will erode our unique value proposition. It would interest me however to find out why the low volume high cost market was discarded by you and Margie as a feasible "philosophy"; it seems to be working really well for Botswana, so what's different in South Africa? And what are these "niches" of which you speak?

Tamara Soo • 4 years ago

Based on what the future looks like in terms of the growing number of travellers searching for more authentic, customised and sustainable options - I 100% agree that the way to go is the so-called niche markets (which will eventually be the "higher volume" going forward )...

Margi Biggs • 4 years ago

This is clearly the philosophy to adopt in order to ensure real growth. However, for as long as the number of visitors is the measurement tool by which we measure growth, rather than revenue, we will not be able to carry this out, as it does not serve the 'number growth model'.

Ryan Wallace • 4 years ago

Makes great sense to me for the SA context!