Load shedding a threat to the industry – Tourism Council

Johannesburg – Following the continuous electricity load shedding in the country, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has come out spitting fire on the apparent lack of infrastructural forward planning on the side of the country’s authorities.
This was said in a statement by the TBCSA Chief Executive Officer, Mmatšatši Marobe, who said while we understand the problem at hand – “we are of a view that the cause for this power outrages and load shedding in the country is due to a lack of forward planning by the powers that be.”

Marobe said following the announcement by FIFA to host the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa – the industry has been working hard to bring investment into the country amid speculations that the country needed to improve its capacity as far as accommodation and other tourism related services are concerned.

She said this call was highly welcomed by the industry. “We hosted the first ever Hospitality Investment Conference showcasing potential opportunities for investment in the travel and tourism sector in 2007 but now questions are been asked as to whether the country and Africa has infrastructural ability.”

Marobe said if at this stage we are dealing with power outrages – “what other disruptions should we expect. Has the country begun forward thinking regarding water, sewerages, roads more especially against the background of so much developments happening in the country at the moment.”

She said already the industry is amongst the hardest hit by high inflation rates, high fuel costs and increasing food prices. “Therefore our industry in particular cannot afford the inaccuracy from the authorities’ side in terms of detecting future hindrances.” Marobe says almost all aspects of the tourism business operations highly depend on electricity.

The South African Vehicle Renting and Leasing Association (SAVRALA), General Manager Val van der Berg said the power outrages are very disruptive to businesses “Already the industry preparations for amongst others the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament is at advance stages, vehicles have been purchased, but cannot be registered with the authorities because of constant power outrages. The industry is losing out on aspects such as electronic transactions which cannot be processed – it is for this reason that we call for a quicker remedy to this problem as its depth will have negative repercussions for tourism,” she said.

“Already International tour operators are having difficulties in doing business with us – transactions cannot be processed and it is costing them bank charges on the other,” said van der Berg.

Chief Executive Officer of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FEDHASA), Brett Dungan said “I would prefer to call it a rolling black-out not load shedding. We as FEDHASA are not happy with the way this whole thing is handled, but at the same time this must be viewed as wake-up call for our industry.”

He said with so many of our members making such significant efforts to conserve our natural resources, we hope to inspire others to also play their part in managing this resource – as outlined in the position statement of the Imvelo awards, which requires the tourism and hospitality industries to showcase their efforts in resource management amongst others.

Alex Bosch, Executive Director at the Timeshare Institute of Southern Africa (TISA) said we are well aware that this current government inherited the problem, but that should not be a reason for lack of forward thinking. “These outrages are a clear indication that the government did not at any point facilitate this problem.”

Had government enlightened all business as to this problem will arise and not on the eve of it, but over a period of time, then one could have prepared to curb unnecessary consumptions and plan production time schedule well ahead,” Bosch concluded.

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