The Portfolio Committees on Tourism welcomed the Department of Tourism’s Route Development Marketing Plan which was approved by the Cabinet in December 2024.
The department led by Minister of Tourism, Ms Patricia de Lille and Tourism South Africa CEO, Ms Nombulelo Guliwe, appeared before the committee to provide an update on the work done towards the Tourism Route Development Marketing Plan (TRDMP). In welcoming the plan, the committee applauded it and described it as a well-researched and insightful TRDMP. The committee also urged the department for full implementation of the plan and called for proper systems to be put in place to measure the success of the plan and its impact on the economy.
Briefing the committee, the Minister of Tourism, Ms Patricia de Lille who led the departmental delegation to the committee said Africa as a whole enjoys only two per cent of the world’s air traffic and that through the plan it is hoped that opportunities will be increased. “There is room for us to do more to get more flights. We need to improve the coordination of air routes into our country,” she said.
Presenting the plan, Ms Guliwe said despite being a long-haul destination, South Africa did not have a nationally coordinated route development mechanism for tourism until 4 December 2024. She told the committee that the plan has key marketing deliverables that include the development of world-class business cases that show carriers how they can be profitable connecting to, and within South Africa; coordinating stakeholders at a national level and the alignment of provincial air access programmes.
The plan will also foster public-private partnerships to ensure sustainable air services through route development marketing. The committee was told that the plan would play a vital role in supporting air service development for tourism growth. It aims to maximise South Africa’s domestic and international route development through marketing initiatives that increase market volumes to ensure sustained connectivity.
The committee was told that SA Tourism will integrate the plan with a commitment of R6.5 million in the current 2024/25 financial year. The activation of the plan includes route launch marketing aimed at achieving affordability and joint marketing efforts with participating airlines to stimulate and sustain the South African and international markets.
The committee heard that to ensure success, SA Tourism will work closely with tourism stakeholders and provincial structures, engaging in joint marketing efforts to attract travellers in a unified approach.
The plan is guided by key policy documents including, the National Development Plan, Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, the National Tourism Sector Strategy and Tourism White Paper and the Tourism Master Plan. The department indicated that a benchmarking exercise was undertaken on various route developments.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe, said the committee looks forward to seeing the implementation of this plan, especially coordination at the provincial level to ensure that aviation benefits are optimised by provinces.
She said: “It is imperative that this route plan and its structure is understood as not replacing existing initiatives such as the Cape Town Air Access Programme, Durban Direct, and Gauteng Air Access Network. It must be clarified that it is meant to serve as a unifying platform of these programmes and other future initiatives by provinces.”
Ms Mnganga-Gcabashe said the route development is critical for achieving the targeted 15 million arrivals by 2030, therefore partnerships around this are important to optimise. “The committee looks forward to seeing how this Route Plan will also further connectivity in the rest of the Continent through the Single African Air Transport Market of the African Union,” she added.
The committee will continue to monitor the implementation of this route plan, including the budget allocation and spending by SA Tourism.
A few interesting points from the presentation:
Aviation Insights and Performance
- South Africa has 103 active international routes to 64 cities across the world on 49 airlines.
- In 2025, a total of 8.5 million seats are scheduled, with 4.2 million seats on short-haul routes and 4.3 seats on long-haul flights over six hours. This is a growth of 9.4% from 2024 and 92% of the 2019 seat supply levels.
- In 2026, total South Africa air traffic is expected to surpass 2019 – according to the IBA Analysis presented at the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA) Aviation Summit 2025.
- Domestic Flights within South Africa in 2024 were at 86% of 2019 levels.
- In 2025 Domestic flights are expected to grow by +1.5% and seat capacity to grow by 7.3% year on year.
