Letter of the Day: Questions over SAT in NYC

I RECENTLY read a press release from SA Tourism New York about the departure of Prudence Solomon-Inzerillo, which makes a number of rather spurious claims about Solomon-Inzerillo's achievements, amongst others: - An increase of 14% in US visitor numbers for the first half of 2004 - Arranging high profile celebrity visits - Generating over $1,3m worth of publicity for the destination As an active participant of the inbound tourism industry, you must excuse my cynicism about the achievements of Solomon-Inzerillo and her office in New York. The 14% increase in visitor numbers is a contentious issue as it is generally felt that a large proportion of that number have been visitors transiting SA to better value destinations like Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. It is no secret that it takes years of collective hard slog and effort by all players in the industry to bring about increased visitor numbers to any destination. Solomon-Inzerillo has been in her position for less than two years. I have on my visits to the USA heard numerous comments about the inaccessibility of Solomon-Inzerillo and the SA Tourism office to the local trade in the US during her tenure. It seems that in arranging and facilitating so many high profile visits she has not spent much time in her office. Where did the $ 1,3m for publicity go? To the contrary, I have received numerous comments from US operators and agents of bad planning, late invitations and poor turnout at a number of SA Tourism sponsored events in New York. What really is the value of visits to South Africa by Hollywood celebrities apart from a flutter in the social gossip columns? With the US market being our company's second most important contributor to our guest numbers we have certainly seen no significant increase in US visitor numbers since 9/11. I would be interested to hear what other local inbound operators have to say about their US visitor stats over the past two years or so. It is my submission that Solomon-Inzerillo has been nothing more than a PR figurehead for SA Tourism. At this crucial time in an industry facing extraordinary challenges of the strong rand, the prickly issue of transformation of the local industry and poor perceptions of SA as a value destination aboard, SA Tourism needs a lot more than a glamorous Hollywood approach to marketing our destination abroad. Our state sponsored tourism marketing efforts are, sadly, a mirror of much of this country's transformation efforts: a few, newly privileged individuals who flit from one position to the next for unjustifiable salaries and who leave very little to show in terms of real, meaningful achievements. It is time for SA Tourism to find individuals for their key positions with real leadership, real commitment to a common mission and a lot more than just their own personal interests as the motivating factor for their efforts. Name withheld North American sales South Africa (Disclaimer: The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of TNN and Now Media.)