THE ceo of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), Mmatšatši Marobe, has commended government's airlift strategy, saying it seemed to be adopting a policy of “managed liberalisation” of the sky.
Marobe was commenting on the speech made by Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, at the 6th Annual National Tourism Conference held last week.
She said it was necessary for the industry to call for a total opening of the skies in view of the pressure from key source markets. But she added: “South Africa is not
doing too badly in terms of air access restrictions compared to some other countries”.
Marobe said government should provide an opportunity for the tourism industry to contribute in South Africa's air service negotiations. “The TBCSA would like to have more interaction with the Department of Transport on various matters, including aviation and land transport policies. On aviation matters, we would like to provide the government with industry insight to help in their bilateral negotiations,” she said.
