{"id":1060,"date":"2009-01-28T01:45:29","date_gmt":"2009-01-27T23:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2009-01-28T01:45:29","modified_gmt":"2009-01-27T23:45:29","slug":"dont-worry-say-tourism-bosses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/world-cup-2010\/dont-worry-say-tourism-bosses\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t worry, say tourism bosses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs\u00a0as well as the CEO of S A Tourism are sending out messages of hope to the tourism industry, given the global credit crunch.<\/p>\n

Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk is quoted in TravelHub <\/strong>as follows:\u00a0\u00a0 “Our industry is by no means immune to the effects of the international economic crisis, but we are still confident that we will reach our target of 10 million visitors in 2010.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our country continues to be a value-for-money destination and with international events like the Confederations Cup and World Cup lined up, there will be opportunities in abundance and tourism will retain the important role it plays in our economic growth.”<\/p>\n

Tourist arrivals\u00a0in the first eight months of 2008 showed a 5 % increase, compared to 8 % in the same period a year before.<\/p>\n

SA Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola urged the tourism industry to not “panic”, even though 2009 will be a challenging year.\u00a0\u00a0 He projected tourism growth to reduce to 2 % this year, with hotel bookings already down by 25 – 30 %, reports TravelHub<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 “This is a time of opportunity for South Africa to catch up with other destinations. When everybody in the world withdraws (from markets), we must move in,” he said, speaking at a conference in Somerset West.<\/p>\n

The first six months of 2009 will be busy, he said, with an Australian cricket tour in February\/March; the SAA Open golf championships in February; a British Lions tour in June\/July; the Confederations Cup in June; and the elections in April.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mosola is confident that the 2010 World Cup will the biggest success story ever for South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs\u00a0as well as the CEO of S A Tourism are sending out messages of hope to the tourism industry, given the global credit crunch. Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk is quoted in TravelHub as follows:\u00a0\u00a0 “Our industry is by no means immune to the effects of the international economic crisis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[22,11],"tags":[799,17,16,791,239,100,792,32368],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t