STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINSTER,THE RT. HON. DR. B.S.S DLAMINI
ON THE OCASSION OF THE EAST3ROUTE GALA DINNER ROYAL SWAZI SUN CONVENTION CENTRE
MONDAY 15 OCTOBER 2012
Your Royal Highnesses
The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister
Honourable Ministers
The Honourable Minister for Tourism from the Republic of Mozambique
The Honourable MEC for Economic Affairs and Tourism under the Kwazulu-Natal
Provincial government of South Africa Members of both Houses of Parliament
Your Excellencies members of the Diplomatic Corps
Members of the business fraternity from Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland
Members of the media from the three countries
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Once again, it is an honour and privilege for me to be with you tonight to celebrate the second year of this wonderful tourism expedition and investment initiative by the three neighbouring countries. It was around this time last year when I was guest of honour to launch the east3route initiative here at the same venue.
This initiative could not have happened at a better time. In April 2012, His Majesty the King launched an investor roadmap with the slogan “Swaziland, Africa’s new promise”. Tourism is one of the pillars of this roadmap. Indeed, tourism promotion and investment remain one of the key activities that our Government strongly believes have the potential to turn around the economy of Swaziland and enhance that of her neighbours.
Globally, international tourist arrivals reached a total of 980 million travelers in 2011 from 939 million in 2010 despite stalled global economic recovery, major political challenges in the Middle East, North Africa and natural disasters in Japan. This, in essence, is testimony of the resilience of the tourism sector worldwide which as a region we need to fully exploit in order to boost our economies for the benefit of our peoples.
In this regard, the east-3-route initiative symbolizes the beginning of a much more strategic approach to economic and tourism development in our tripartite alliance and in the SADC region as a whole. Tourism does not only bring people and money to a destination but also influences the investment aspect.
The combination of tourism and investment is vital to the economic growth of any nation. That is why both are a significant pillar of our investor roadmap that seeks to improve Swaziland’s competitiveness in tourism and investment within the region.
Swaziland has developed a tourism strategy and action plan for the next 5 years. The strategy provides the vision, values and direction to lead the tourism sector into the future. It identifies issues and proposes interventions to be implemented through a number of detailed activities. The strategy also emphasizes the need to continue to participate in various fora provided by both regional and international organizations or initiatives such as the east-3 route.
Indeed, any successful tourism strategy will highly depend on a vibrant partnership between the public and the private sectors; the private sector needs to be involved at every stage of implementation and consulted at policy formulation.
We are hopeful that since the launch last year, the East-3-route is beginning to bear fruits in terms of linkages that have been created. We need to continue to seek private sector participation, foreign direct investments into the industry, including from our international development partners.
As destinations worldwide seek innovative strategies to stimulate travel demand under pressing economic conditions, we are challenged as Governments to consider advancing travel facilitation. Our countries need to pool information and communication technologies to improve visa application and processing formalities as well as the time taken to issue a visa. Travel facilitation has been closely interlinked with tourism development and can be key in boosting demand.
This area is of particular relevance at a time when Governments are looking to stimulate economic growth but cannot make major use of fiscal incentives or public investment.
In order to influence and sustain growth, policy makers need to raise awareness of tourism’s pivotal role and the need for Governments expenditure on the sector. Measures need to be taken to address the regulatory framework, standards, and product development with a focus on diversification, strong destination marketing, improved business environment and improved infrastructure to service tourists and encourage investments, facilitate air accessibility, implement open skies policy, among others.
The significance of ICT in the tourism industry is yet another key priority that needs to be addressed across the region, given the increasing importance of on-line bookings and the advent of social media marketing platforms. E-tourism is now a significant contributor to marketing and distribution in the developed world.
His Majesty’s Government is grateful to this east-3-route expedition to the Governments of South Africa and Mozambique, and in particular, the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism under the Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Government for funding this initiative.
Indeed, the Kingdom of eSwatini undertakes to support such initiatives as they do not only promote tourism but also enhance trade and regional integration in the region.
In conclusion, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the organizers of the east-3 route for the kind donation of bicycles. Indeed, they will be of great assistance to our community based tourism initiatives within the four regions of the Kingdom. I also note with interest that such a facility further contributes to the physical well being and health of an individual because of the routine physical exercise that one is subjected to whilst being transported from one point to the other.
Thank you so very much