SA's first tourism envoy to China
2 June 2003
South Africa has appointed a tourism diplomat to Beijing, ushering in a new era of tourism marketing between the country and China.
Manqoba Nyembezi, the country's first-ever tourism attaché, left South Africa on Friday to take up his position in the world's most populous nation, with a brief to attract the Chinese to tour and explore the country.
Speaking before his departure, Nyembezi said his appointment was a "shining example of what can be achieved when a cluster of government departments, including the departments of foreign affairs and tourism, co-operate".
South African Tourism considers the Chinese market as a priority, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries last November that formalised South Africa's approved destination status in Shanghai.
With China projected by the World Tourism Organisation to become the world's largest tourism source market by 2020, and the first foreign
direct investment market since World War II to eclipse the US, Nyembezi said there was a lot at stake for South Africa.
"The challenge facing us in China is to translate this possibility into reality," Nyembezi said, adding that South Africa, unlike many other destinations, had not turned away visitors from China and other countries affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Source: BuaNews
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