announcements, tablings and committee reports - Parliament of ...
announcements, tablings and committee reports - Parliament of ...
announcements, tablings and committee reports - Parliament of ...
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Tuesday, 29 October 2013] 4853Responsible Tourism is given special attention in the revised StrategicPlan with the planned roll-out <strong>of</strong> tourism incentives to encouragedevelopment <strong>and</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> the toolkit for Certification Agencies<strong>and</strong> tourism businesses. Attention is given to the implementation <strong>of</strong> theNational Minimum St<strong>and</strong>ards for Responsible Tourism (NMSRT) as theindustry’s response to Climate Change.The Department established a new International Tourism Branch. Theprevious Strategic Plan focused on developing pr<strong>of</strong>iles for differentcountries to streamline marketing endeavours <strong>and</strong> increase the number<strong>of</strong> foreign tourist arrivals. The revised Strategic Plan focuses on theintroduction <strong>of</strong> strategic interventions for selected tourism markets;activation <strong>of</strong> South African missions abroad for utilization in marketingactivities; facilitation <strong>of</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> international agreements <strong>and</strong>participation in multilateral forums.With regard to Domestic Tourism, there is a focus towardsimplementing aspects <strong>of</strong> various tourism strategies that were developedin the previous financial years. The Department will continue to supportcommunity projects through Exp<strong>and</strong>ed Public Works SocialResponsibility Initiative Programme (SRI). However, the Departmenthas not indicated how they will improve the implementation method forthese projects that have proved to be very problematic in the past. TheDepartment should establish a new implementation model for theEPWP projects. Skills Training <strong>and</strong> service excellence programmeshave also been enhanced with some SRI projects focussed on skillstraining as opposed to infrastructure projects. Collaboration withCATHSSETA <strong>and</strong> UMALUSI on tourism curriculum is also one <strong>of</strong> thepositive initiatives in addressing skills in the sector. This coupled withtraining <strong>of</strong> municipal <strong>of</strong>ficials will, in a long term, ensure proper skillsbase for both public <strong>and</strong> private sector.2.4 Overview <strong>of</strong> key developments in the organisational <strong>and</strong>service delivery environments <strong>of</strong> Department for 2012/13<strong>and</strong> 2013/14 MTEF cycle.The Department received the Tourism Incentive Scheme from theDepartment <strong>of</strong> Trade <strong>and</strong> Industry in the 2012/13 <strong>and</strong> is developing animplementation plan for the Scheme in 2013/ 14. The major change willbe in 2014/ 15 when the scheme will be implemented. The effect <strong>of</strong> thislong planning cycle is that in the period under review there has been notargeted assistance given the emerging tourism enterprises through thescheme.The Department commissioned research with five universities in thecountry <strong>and</strong> they yielded invaluable insights into various aspects <strong>of</strong> thetourism sector. There is also an improved impetus with regard toenhancing skills development in the sector <strong>and</strong> enhancing ServiceExcellence amongst service providers.ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS NO 147─2013
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