FRIDAY, 1 December 2006:
Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism, today
announced the appointment of a new board
for the Tourism Grading Council of South
Africa (TGCSA).
The following board
members have been appointed for a period
of three years, commencing on 1 December
2006:
1.
Chairperson - Mr Alan Romburgh, Chief
Executive Officer: Relais Hotels, Cape
Town 2. Mr Kingsley Potter, Chief
Marketing Officer, SA Tourism 3. Mr Terry Tselane,
Commissioner of Independent Electoral
Commission 4. Mr Mogare Makoloi, Director
Marketing and human resource
development, Badger Industrial Services 5. Mr Martin Weist, Chief
Operating Officer, Tourvest Inbound
Operators 6. Ms Nokuphiwa Moshweunyane,
Luthego Training and Development 7. Mr Krishna Govender,
Financial Manager, MNET 8. Mr Miller Matola, Chief
Executive Officer, International
Convention Centre, Durban 9. Ms Jennifer Seiff, Executive
Director: Fair Trade in Tourism South
Africa 10. Ms Sheila Sekhitla,
Secretary of Tembisa Chamber of Commerce 11. Mr Glenn Phillips, Executive
Director: Marketing and Tourism,
SANParks 12. Mr Phillip Thompson, MD:
Disability Institute SA, DISA 13. Dr Billy Gallagher, Director
Public Relations and Communications,
Southern Sun Hotels 14. Mr Thami Bolani, Chairman:
National Consumer Forum
Minister Van
Schalkwyk, today wished the newly
appointed board every success in leading
the Tourism Grading Council to even
greater heights of achievement.
The TGCSA developed
and launched the National Star Grading
Scheme in November 2001 following
extensive research and consultation with
the tourism industry. To date, over 4800
accommodation establishments have joined
the scheme, making it the fastest
growing tourism quality assurance system
in the entire history of tourism in this
country. The Grading Council has also
embarked on a process of grading other
sectors, such as food and beverage
outlets and conference venues.
The Minister
remarked, “Tourism plays a major part in
ASGISA, our national economic growth
strategy. Therefore, the leadership of
our statutory bodies that support the
industry’s growth must be of the highest
calibre, and be ready to provide the
vision and wisdom to steer us through an
increasingly competitive global tourism
market, whilst advancing the national
priorities of job creation and
transformation.”
“The Tourism Grading
Council also has a crucial role to play
in the lead-up to 2010. Its agreement
with MATCH, the company contracting all
official FIFA accommodation, is the
lynchpin in an agreement that will
ensure that the World Cup benefits are
spread across all sectors of our
economy. The FIFA-MATCH-TGCSA agreement
creates a framework that will, for the
first time, allow non-hotel
accommodation such as national park
accommodation, bed-and-breakfast
establishments, and guest houses to be
contracted as official FIFA
accommodation. However, to be included
in this scheme, establishments will need
to be graded by the TGCSA. This will
vastly increase the stock of graded
accommodation in the country and have
lasting benefits for small, medium and
micro enterprises long after the event.”
said the Minister.
