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In a bid to advance and maintain a recognisable, credible and globally benchmarked system of quality assurance for accommodation and venues in South Africa, the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA) is pleased to announce that the new and revised grading standards for South Africa have been approved by Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom and now gazetted for implementation from 01 April 2019.

SA Tourism has appointed Thekiso Rakolojane to lead the organisation’s destination marketing efforts and to expand strategic business partnerships in Ghana and Nigeria. “The West African markets are critical to us being able to achieve the goal of 5 million tourist arrivals by 2021 because the potential to grow the region is significant enough to make a big impact to South Africa’s tourism results,” says Sthembiso Dlamini, Chief Operating Officer at South African Tourism.

Meetings Africa 2019 will again see African associations and business events industry professionals partner to help transform our continent by showcasing Africa’s diverse services and products. The trade show will take place on 26 and 27 February 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It will be preceded by the Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDay), dedicated solely to exhibitors on 25 February 2019.

The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA) made their mark on the Zambian tourism landscape recently, when they assisted the country’s tourism agency in developing their grading system. The TGCSA, the only officially recognised quality assurance body for tourism products in South Africa, assisted the Zambian Tourism Agency (ZTA), who are embarking on a project to grade all hotels in Zambia, and improve service delivery in the hospitality industry.

SA Tourism welcomes the changes to the visa and travel documentation requirements that were recently announced by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba.

We strongly refute the claims that SA Tourism, team Australia, was rude and dismissive of artists. We're engaging with Ms Beryl Crosher-Segers to address her concerns.

The Department of Tourism is pleased to announce the addition of support for water efficiency measures in the Hospitality Industry to the third window application period of the Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP), which opens from 1 September to 30 November 2018.

Statement by the Minister of Home Affairs, on Visa-related Reforms

Joburg Tourism is marking Tourism Month this year by unveiling not only the new Visitor Information Centre (VIC) in Nelson Mandela Square, but also an updated, fresh website and a mobi-app. The Tourism Unit within the Department of Economic Development’s strategic objective is to promote Johannesburg towards being the number one African destination of choice for both business and leisure in an effort to: Improve seasonality, length of stay and tourist spend during visits to Joburg. Improve the diversity of the tourism offering in Joburg. Build a positive image / perception for the city among local, national and international audiences.

This week, South African Tourism is hosting the 2018 News UK Travel Awards – a prestigious awards ceremony which celebrates the top UK travel journalists from The Times, The Sunday Times, Sunday Times Travel Magazine and The Sun. The travel editors and writers from these publications are hosted in South Africa along with top travel industry experts and CEOs of UK-based travel organisations. As 2018 marks Nelson Mandela’s centenary, South African Tourism decided this year would be the perfect time to collaborate with News UK and showcase some of the destination’s top experiences to its members.

At Africa Travel Summit, Airbnb organizes first ever three day event to discuss how technology can help more people to benefit from tourism.

Cape Town's world champ surfers Jordy Smith, Mikey February and Frank Solomon joined Wesgro to unveil the new #ItsAllStillHere tourism campaign.