The 12th Annual General Meeting of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) took place on 15th April 2008 at the Midrand Conference Centre in Gauteng Province. Speaking at the meeting, the TBCSA Chairman, Thabiso Tlelai expressed optimising on South Africa’s economy and the prospects of our tourism economy despite some volatility in the market, with the rand depreciating and interest rates hikes. He said that South Africa is continuing to build on a difficult but stable macroeconomic foundation, which will strongly provide tangible opportunities and help to achieve Government’s target of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014.

“Despite all these, we remain positive that the tourism industry will play a pivotal role to assist the country with its ambitions. He said as it is, the tourism industry’s contribution to the GDP is growing by a far bigger margin year on year and its impact on our economy has made it possible for Government to consider this sector is one of its priority areas within AsgiSA.  

“As we reflect back, we can proudly point out at our achievements. The council positioned itself well in the industry as the ‘Voice’ of the private sector tourism industry.”

He said the TBCSA was a leading force in providing support for the promotion and marketing of Destination South Africa in international markets “and this cannot go unnoticed and continues to play a critical role in shaping the future of tourism in South Africa.” 

 Since inception of the Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) levy in 1999 an impressive R395 million has been collected to assist in promoting the country internationally, said Tlelai. “This year only we collected an impressive R60 million towards tourism marketing through the TOMSA levy.” (See full presentation on the website). 

The outgoing chairman of TOMSA, Rob Williams said the levy has gone a long way in increasing the marketing budget of South African Tourism. “The industry needs to be applauded for making possible the establishment of the TOMSA fund.” (download TOMSA Chair report)

At the event members of the tourism industry were also told about future undertakings of the TBCSA. “We are reporting on year of significant progress and achievements on a number of fronts”, said Mmatšatši Marobe, chief executive officer of TBCSA.

She said the almost the entire industry can confidently speak of a TBCSA poised to deliver a more transformed and united industry. (download CEO’s report)

As part of the programme an impressive list of quality speakers for the open session was lined-up. These included a talk by a renowned economist, Dawie Roodt who spoke on the impact that the global economic crunch has on the travel and tourism in South Africa (download the presentation).

The new Director General of the Home Affairs Department, Mavuso Msimang also gave a moving insight into the affairs of his department. This is an effort to get answers to the many questions that industry has been having over the years. The address provided Home Affairs with an opportunity to roll-out some of their plans to assist the industry in the development of South African tourism. (download the presentation). 
 
One of the most inspiring motivational speakers, Quinton Coetzee spoke about Going Back to Basics in ensuring that businesses are prospering. The day ended with a networking session where delegates sampled some of Boschendal Wine Estate’s rare wine collection. We thank all the members and stakeholders who managed to attend the AGM and trust that they will continue to support the TBCSA in future events and functions.