Mpumalanga tourism sector will suffer as a result of budget cuts
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned about the state of the tourism industry in Mpumalanga as the provincial Department of Finance and Economic Development has reduced the sector's budget by R40 million, according to MPL Bosman Grobler, DA spokesperson on finance and economic development.
These cuts were revealed in a recent second-quarter report by the department. With tourism being one of Mpumalanga’s key economic drivers, the DA believes that this decision will further speed up its economic decline, which was already hastened by the lockdown measures put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tourism industry in the province cannot afford budget cuts.
The sector needs more funding and support from government to survive. Reducing the budget will be catastrophic to the sector, which already faces challenges that include poor road conditions on popular tourist routes, as well as the lack of general maintenance and necessary upgrading at government-owned and controlled tourism attractions.
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This also leaves inadequate funding, especially for marketing, development, tourism safety and security. Provincial tourism in Mpumalanga already shows a serious lack of meaningful engagements with the private sector, as well as any urgency or capacity by government to implement tourism resolutions.
In August, finance and economic development MEC, Pat Ngomane, told the interim board of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency that “tourism is the goose that lays the golden egg” and he expects the board to ensure that the goose continues to produce said golden egg.
Yet he reduced the sector’s budget. The R40 million reduction impacts mostly on transfers and subsidies, which means money will be taken away from SMMEs and other businesses that rely on the industry to survive.
The DA feels that the MEC has set the interim board up for failure, knowing full well that the goals set are unattainable.
The DA will engage with the department in the form of written questions and personal engagement on the above for them to prioritise funding for the sector and fixing the tourism routes and the coal haulage – to make it easy for tourists to visit our province, and for businesses to want to invest. Investment means more revenue and jobs for Mpumalanga.
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