Nutty Grandad
10th February 2008, 18:59
Crime puts tourists off South Africa
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 28/07/2007
One of the world's great holiday destinations is being marred by a wave of violence. Charles Starmer-Smith reports.
Graham Boynton: South Africa has everything - except security (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2007/07/28/et-south-africa-comment-128.xml) South Africa's spiralling crime figures may have deterred more than 22 million tourists from visiting the country over the past five years, its tourism minister said this week.
Fears over security are putting people off visiting South AfricaMarthinus van Schalkwyk said government research showed that more than a third of potential tourists had cited safety concerns as a reason for not visiting South Africa since 2002.
The government has set itself a target of 10 million tourists a year by the time the country stages the football World Cup in 2010. Currently it claims to attract just over eight million visitors.
"Our research has indicated that, while South Africa is in many respects an attractive tourist destination, fear of crime could be a possible deterrent to potential visitors," Mr van Schalkwyk said. "Crime is an issue we have to deal with if we want to reach our target."
South African authorities were hoping to achieve a drop in crime in the 12 months ending in March this year of between seven and 10 per cent. Instead, recent figures show that murders increased by 2.4 per cent (to 19,202), bank robberies by 118 per cent, residential robberies by 24 per cent, car hijackings by six per cent, drug-related crimes by 8.2 per cent and commercial crimes by 12.6 per cent. The number of rapes (52,617) and attempted murders (20,142) decreased.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/graphics/2007/07/28/et-cape-town-300.jpg
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 28/07/2007
One of the world's great holiday destinations is being marred by a wave of violence. Charles Starmer-Smith reports.
Graham Boynton: South Africa has everything - except security (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2007/07/28/et-south-africa-comment-128.xml) South Africa's spiralling crime figures may have deterred more than 22 million tourists from visiting the country over the past five years, its tourism minister said this week.
Fears over security are putting people off visiting South AfricaMarthinus van Schalkwyk said government research showed that more than a third of potential tourists had cited safety concerns as a reason for not visiting South Africa since 2002.
The government has set itself a target of 10 million tourists a year by the time the country stages the football World Cup in 2010. Currently it claims to attract just over eight million visitors.
"Our research has indicated that, while South Africa is in many respects an attractive tourist destination, fear of crime could be a possible deterrent to potential visitors," Mr van Schalkwyk said. "Crime is an issue we have to deal with if we want to reach our target."
South African authorities were hoping to achieve a drop in crime in the 12 months ending in March this year of between seven and 10 per cent. Instead, recent figures show that murders increased by 2.4 per cent (to 19,202), bank robberies by 118 per cent, residential robberies by 24 per cent, car hijackings by six per cent, drug-related crimes by 8.2 per cent and commercial crimes by 12.6 per cent. The number of rapes (52,617) and attempted murders (20,142) decreased.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/graphics/2007/07/28/et-cape-town-300.jpg