After 24 Years, South African Tourism to Get New Direction

A rich cross-section of academics, businesspeople and people connected to the travel industry have been chosen by the minister of tourism to help her draw up a new policy framework to guide the industry into the future.

The tourism policy framework for South Africa was last updated in 1996!

Some of the better-known names on the list of seven are Michael Tollman, who was long involved with Wilderness Safaris and is still a director of The Travel Corporation, Bouchard Finlayson and the London-based Red Carnation Hotels, which also owns the famous Oyster Box in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Sylvester Chauke is founder of DNA Brand Architects, winner of the ICCO World’s Best PR campaign 2019, IABC Best of the Best 2019 and Adweek Top 100 Fastest Growing Agency in the world 2020. Mojankunyane Gumbi is a lawyer and deputy chairperson of the South African Tourism Board, and was recently chosen chancellor of the University of Venda.

Working for former president Thabo Mbeki, she spearheaded South Africa’s economic diplomacy, ensuring a global presence for South African companies. She was involved in peace-making initiatives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Sudan, Lesotho, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iran and the Middle East.

Chairing the committee will be Bongani Ngqulunga from the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Johannesburg, who studied at Brown University in America and recently won the Alan Paton Award for nonfiction for his book “The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme.”

Tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said the team would review all existing policies, provide guidance to her over a 12-month period, with a view to develop a new comprehensive and overarching tourism policy framework to guide the sector to new heights.

Busisiwe Radebe is an economist with the Nedbank Group and has a Masters in economics from the University of Johannesburg. Mmatšatši Ramawela has spent 23 years in the travel industry and is chairperson of the Auspex Hotels and Leisure Management and is a Member of the Tourism Transformation Council of South Africa.

Dianne Abrahams is the Director of the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at University of Johannesburg.

“I’m looking forward to working with the panel members who will help me steer the ship to the right direction,” said the minister.