South African Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW
private game farms and nature
reserves, a number of which
cater to the luxury market.
There are eight UNESCO World
Heritage Sites in South Africa:
Robben Island Museum, Cradle
of Humankind, Mapungubwe
Cultural Landscape, iSimangaliso
Wetland Park, uKhahlamba
Drakensberg (newly named
Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier
Park), Richtersveld, Cape Floral
Kingdom and Vredefort Dome.
Other popular history
or cultural sites include the
Nelson Mandela Museum,
Hector Petersen Memorial,
Apartheid Museum, Freedom
Park, Voortrekker Monument,
Constitution Hill, District Six
Museum and Bo-Kaap Museum.
There are a number of opportunities
to further develop the
full potential of tourism in heritage
sites. The Department of
Arts and Culture is responsible
for the promotion of Heritage
Month, including Heritage Day.
Structure
The South African tourism industry
is well segmented. The distribution
channel is dominated by
four major groups, each of which
runs several companies in different
parts of the value chain.
According to Wesgro, the Western
Cape’s investment promotion
agency, the biggest groups are:
• Imperial Holdings: mostly
logistics, companies include
Europcar and Tempest
Car Hire.
• Bidvest Travel and Aviation:
Budget Rent a Car, Bidvest Sky
Lounge, Rennies Foreign Exchange, BidTravel, Harvey World Travel,
HRG Rennies Travel and BidAir Services.
• Cullinan Holdings: iKapa Tours and Travel, Thompsons, Hylton Ross
Tours, Pentravel, Grosvenor Tours and Springbok Atlas. The latter
two were bought by Cullinan from Imperial in 2013.
• Tourvest: The group controls 63 companies dealing with many
aspects of the tourist experience: tour operators and conference
organisers, foreign exchange, retail (gift shops and duty-free shops)
and hotels (African Hotels and Adventures).
The principal airline operators in South Africa are SAA, the alliance
of British Airways, Comair, and Kulula, a low-cost airline. SAA has ties
with SA Express and owns low-cost carrier Mango. SA Express and SA
Airlink fly to smaller destinations in South Africa and Southern Africa.
Safair is owned by ASL Aviation Group.
Casinos are a popular part of many entertainment and accommodation
complexes around the country, although relatively few licences
are in operation.
Private game reserves and golf resorts has been one of the fastestgrowing
markets in recent years.
The Garden Route and the KwaZulu-Natal coastline are areas rich in
golfing venues. Between George and Cape St Francis there are many
highly-rated golf courses including Pinnacle Point, Fancourt (three
courses), Simola, Plettenberg Bay Country Club and St Francis Links.
Wine tourism is said to contribute indirectly more than R4.5-billion
to the South African tourism sector (South African Wine Industry
Information and Systems, SAWIS). According to Wine Tourism South
Africa, a website and publishing concern that provides information
about the wine industry, 43% of visitors to South Africa visit the
Cape Winelands.
The Industrial Development Corporation has committed to investing
R2-billion in local resorts (and in the African hotel market). There are
several unused or under-used facilities in South Africa that could be
fixed up to cater to the many South Africans who currently don’t take
holidays. An audit of possible properties is under- way. One suggestion
is that former military bases could be converted into low-fee resorts.
Other niche areas that are being explored include astrology and
adventure tourism.
ONLINE RESOURCES
African Business Travel Association: www.abta.co.za
National Department of Tourism: www.tourism.gov.za
South African Golf Tourism Association: www.sagta.co.za
South African National Parks: www.sanparks.co.za
South African Tourism: www.southafrica.net
South African Tourism Services: www.satsa.com
119 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018