Swaziland Environment Action Plan (SEAP)

Contents | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

3.1 The Economy | 3.2 People | 3.3 Land | 3.4 Water Sector | 3.5 Biodiversity | 3.6 Agriculture | 3.7 Forestry | 3.8 Manufacturing | 3.9 Tourism | 3.10 Mining | 3.11 Fuel and Energy

3.0 SOCIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

3.9 Tourism

Presently the tourism industry is only surviving. The boom years seem to be over and tourism needs to develop new attractions and new markets. This is the appropriate time for the tourism sector to take renewed interest in the environment.

The tourism industry in Swaziland grew from its ability to offer a unique product to South African tourists, who had limited freedom under the previous political system. No restrictions were placed on South Africans and foreign nationals staying in South Africa from visiting Swaziland. They visited the country as individuals for periods of two to three days or more and the industry blossomed under this unrestricted trade.

The picture has altered completely with the new political changes in South Africa. Swaziland's tourist industry can no longer survive on its former marketing strength and needs to react to the new market requirements. South Africans now have a previously hostile world open before them, and outbound travel is booming, including hither-to restricted African countries. Swaziland, the "country next door" has largely lost its appeal.

The new picture, although far from bleak, presents numerous challenges. The picture sees Swaziland extremely well placed in terms of location and infrastructure. The country straddles a major route between tourist growth points in the Mphumalanga/Kruger National Park, Witbank through Swaziland to Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal/Maputoland. The country could hardly ask for a better position in the regional picture. Many international tour operators have already included Swaziland in their packages, using it as a stop-over between the high profile areas listed above. The problems to contend with are visa issues and border opening hours. This is the tourist traffic that a shrunken Swazi industry is now surviving on.

The opportunity exists to build on this new trend. Eighty percent of all international tours to Southern Africa, including either the Mphumalanga or Natal/KwaZulu areas, list Swaziland in their itineraries. This is fuelled by huge collective government and private sector marketing effort which aims to attract a million foreign visitors per annum to the area within the next ten years. Swaziland can piggy-back on this initiative and firmly entrench itself as a "not to be missed" stop between the two areas. Once this is achieved, the local industry will then be challenged to find ways of slowing down the traffic to achieve longer stays than the current one-night visit which is the norm for tourists.

3.9.1 Environmental Issues Related to the Tourism Sector

• Pollution - especially from solid waste disposal by tourists.
• Congestion - vehicular traffic on major roads, over use of limited facilities at airport and public places.
• Cultural Pollution - introduction of undesirable habits such as drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, destruction of sacred places and destabilization of the youth.

3.9.2 Policy

A Draft Swaziland National Tourism Policy (2000) is available, prepared by the Ministry of Broadcasting, Information and Tourism (now Tourism, Environment and Communications). Its objectives are:

• To establish a rightfully empowered national machinery to coordinate and promote the development of tourism.
• To facilitate the process of establishing a strong private-sector driven tourism industry.
• To enhance support and encouragement for community initiatives, especially in rural areas, in ventures of touristic nature.
• To involve a training programme that will ensure that personnel in the industry are able to cope with challenges that characterize the tourism environment.
• To facilitate inter-sectoral collaboration between government ministries and departments with a view to reviewing practices and procedures that make Swaziland elusive to bonafide tourists.
• To facilitate public education and provision of information on tourism.

This draft policy needs to be reviewed to include more practical policy elements. A National Tourism Development Policy's overall objective should be to establish, support and promote a sustainable, efficient and diversified tourist industry, based on the broad scale of integrated cultural and ecological attractions of Swaziland. The policy must be in harmony with cultural traditions and sound environmental management.

Policy Practical Elements

• Give consideration to tourism patterns and tourists demands in a national strategy to increase efficiency and profitability of tourist facilities;
• Promote tourism by making full use of the scenic, environmental and biological diversity of Swaziland;
• Promote ecotourism;
• Safeguard and use archaeological, historical and cultural heritage sites;
• Appraise and monitor nature reserves and parks with respect to carrying capacity;
• Tax tourism to raise revenue for management of natural and cultural resources.

3.9.3. Priority Actions

Presently the impacts of tourism on the environment have not been seriously addressed, not even in the proposed draft Tourism Policy of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MCIT), now Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Communications. The environmental impacts of tourism need to be addressed to ensure that this growing and lucrative market is tapped by Swaziland on sustainable basis. In this regard, the following priority actions are recommended: