Tourism Organization Aims To Lure Visitors to 14 African Nations by Larry Luxner JOHANNESBURGóSeveral years ago, tourist officials from throughout southern Africaóeager to lure well-heeled visitors to their countriesólooked to the islands of the Caribbean for inspiration and liked what they saw. The result: Retosa, an acronym for Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa. "As far back as 1992, the region realized it was essential to work together in order to be effective," said executive director Shepherd Nyaruwata. "Retosa itself is similar to what the Caribbean Tourism Organization is doing. In 1993, when the region was beginning to look at the rest of the world, we began exchanging ideas with Caribbean tourist authorities." Like southern Africa, the Caribbean is spread out across a large area, encompassing more than a dozen countries and territories that speak many languages and have little in common except for poverty, an African heritage and a lingering colonial legacy that hurtsórather than promotesóeconomic development. Yet the Caribbean also boasts spectacular natural beauty, and millions of tourists visit the region every year, pumping billions of dollars into is land economies. The most important destinations are Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Aruba. Tourism to southern Africa, on the other hand, is extremely uneven. Just one country, South Africa, accounted for 52 percent of the regionís 13.4 million tourists last yearómore than the combined tourist arrivals of Retosaís 13 other member nations: Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Around 70 percent of those 13.4 million tourists were from within the region, that is, South Africans visiting Namibia or Swazis crossing the border to Mozambiqueónot exactly tourists in the true sense of the word. The AIDS scare and concern about violent crime has hurt South Africa, and in some countries, such as Congo and Angola, fierce tribal wars have slashed tourist arrivals to zero. Clearly, when it comes to attracting visitors from the North America, Europe and the Far East, southern Africa still lags way behind the Caribbean. "Basically, weíre trying to establish southern Africa as a destination in the minds of tour operators, travel agents and tourists. Weíre also looking at establishing partnerships," said Nyaruwata, a 47-year-old Zimbabwean with a bachelorís degree in geography from Oxford, and a city planner by profession. "Initially, the main office [for Retosa] was going to be in Mauritius, because the infrastructure was there," he said in an interview. "But we eventually decided to put the headquarters in Johannesburg because itís the commercial and airline hub of the region." Retosaís budget is quite smalló$900,000 this year, rising to $1.1 million in 2002ówith 80 percent of its funds coming from member nations and the remaining 20 percent from the private sector. Each country pays the same amount regardless of its size, said Nyaruwata, noting that "if they contribute equally to the budget of the organization, theyíll have an equal say." Established in 1997, Retosa is the official tourism body of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). As such, the chairmanship of Retosa changes from year to year. Its board of directors consists of two members from each countryóone from the private sector, one from the government. "We are meeting our objectives," said Nyaruwata. "In our 1998-2002 business plan, the key objective was to maintain a 7 percent annual growth of tourist arrivals to southern Africa, and that has been maintained. Secondly, we aim to provide adequate promotional material, initially for the travel trade, and then for the consumer. Third [we aim] to establish communication with the travel trade and overseas." Retosaís representative in New York, BCA Communications, handles all media and public relations functions in the United States. In Australia, the organization is represented by Integra and in France by Interface Tourism. In Germany and the United Kingdom, Retosa works directly with tour-operator associations. Nyaruwata noted that tourism to the region is growing "because of the end of apartheid, because of the novelty of South Africa as a tourism destination for people who couldnít travel there before, and because of [former South African President Nelson] Mandela." Indeed, said Hans J. Prenner, general manager of the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg: "Ten years ago, nobody knew about southern Africa, but everybody knew about Kenya. Nelson Mandela represented a major shift." Werner Beddies, owner of Discover Africa in Windhoek, Namibia, said southern Africa today receives just 2.3 percent of all world tourism expenditures. "Over the past 10 years, tourism in southern Africa has become an integrated industry," he said. "People usually have three weeks in each country. When all the troubles started in Zimbabwe, we lost Victoria Falls, one of our most important attractions. Weíve lost not only international tourism, but local tourism as well. We cannot operate in isolation. Thatís why Retosa is so important." Last year, he said, around 350,000 tourists came to Namibia, of which 60 percent were Germans, 20 percent South Africans and the rest from Europe. "Weíre moving very strongly into opening new markets," he said. "This used to be mainly a traditional German destination. The Brits would rather go to Zimbabwe, since it was a British colony. As you know, Germans are not very language-friendly, especially the older generation. For that reason, Namibia was very comfortable for them." In the past few years, thereís been lots of interest in Namibiaóso much so that Walvis Bay Airport is reportedly being enlarged to handle Boeing 747s. Earlier this year, the Namibian Tourism Board was inaugurated. "Weíre very positive about our tourism board because it was encouraged by the government," said Beddies, adding that the Deloitte & Touche accounting firm recently won a tender to advise the Nujoma government on tourism policies. Another bright star on the Retosa map is Mozambiqueóa country known for its beautiful Indian Ocean beaches but ravaged by civil war. Until recently, the World Bank ranked it as the poorest country on Earth, but in the last five years the country has seen its gross domestic product grow as fast as 12 percent annually. "Mozambique has the highest potential for tourism of all the Retosa-member countries," said Nyaruwata. "Southern Sun, a South African hotel chain, has moved into Mozambique. During the Portuguese period, the level of development was very limited." One of Retosaís long-term objectives is to promote so-called "peace parks" that straddle international boundaries. Two such parks now existóone on the South Africa-Mozambique border, the other on the South Africa-Botswana border. "The idea is that once youíre in there, you can cross back as many times as you like," said Beddies. In addition, Retosa is working to have visa requirements eliminated for nationals of 12 countries, effective Dec. 31, 2001. These countries are Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most Retosa-member countries exempt these travelers already, though some, such as Mozambique, have cumbersome visa requirements that discourage tourism. As for a unified visa system, in which one visa would be valid for all 14 Retosa-member countries, Nyaruwata said such a scheme is at least five to seven years away. Asked if Retosa is effective, Beddies said it is beginning to be. "Weíve had a mentality in southern Africa of everybody doing his own thing," he said. "All of a sudden, people now have to work together. This goes against our nature. Itíll take time, but I believe Retosa is on the right path." Larry Luxner is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.