“It’s a pipe dream” – Cyril Ramaphosa left red-faced by tourism gaffe

A row is brewing between the ANC the DA this week, after the official tourism representatives of South Africa labelled Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans for the industry as “unrealistic and unattainable”.

A Parliamentary Portfolio Committee heard how SA Tourism disputed promises Cyril Ramaphosa made during his SONA 2019 speech, where he suggested 21 million people would flock to South Africa over the next decade. But according to the professionals, these numbers simply don’t add up.

Cyril Ramaphosa gets his numbers wrong

They estimate that Cyril has missed the mark by 20 – 25% of a more realistic target. Manny de Freitas is the DA’s Shadow Minister of Tourism. He attended the meeting on Tuesday, and slammed the president for ‘living in a different reality’ to the rest of the country.

“On Tuesday, SA Tourism (SAT) confirmed to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Tourism that the President’s target of 21 million visitors over the next 10 years was unrealistic and unattainable. SAT instead indicated that a more realistic tourism target would be 16.5 million by 2030.” 

“Like most of his promises, this was a pipe dream. The reality is that President Ramaphosa cannot expect South Africa to welcome high numbers of tourists to our shores when our economy is floundering, crime is on the rise and our aviation industry is being held to ransom by industrial action on the part of unions.”

Manny de Freitas

Preserving the tourism industry

De Freitas claimed that he and his party would be holding the government to task on this one. They are set to lead another Parliamentary inquiry into the challenges faced by the tourism industry in South Africa, with reports of xenophobic attacks and crime against foreign visitors dominating international headlines.

The DA will also be submitting Parliamentary questions to enquire whether the Department – in conjunction with other relevant Departments – have any short and long-term strategies in place to boost tourism. Although 16.5 million tourists over the next 10 years represents a decent return, the factors limiting this figure from growing need to be tackled thoroughly.