Durban - The high-profile Dewani murder in November, 2010, in Cape Town had “no impact whatsoever” on tourism to South Africa, the Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.
Honeymooner Anni Dewani was shot and killed when she and her husband Shrien were allegedly hijacked in Gugulethu, Cape Town.
Her British husband, who is being treated at a hospital in Bristol for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, is wanted in South Africa in connection with the murder.
The extradition proceedings against Shrien are expected to resume in July.
Van Schalkwyk referred to the case at the Hotel Investment Conference Africa gathering in Durban on Friday when one delegate said that something had to be done to eliminate the perception about crime in South Africa.
“We can’t run away from crime…there is a perception,” he said. “But we also have to be very careful we don’t talk our country down…without covering up something that has to be dealt with.”
Exit interviews were carried out with tourists after their visits and while they listed crime as their number one concern three years ago, it was now down to number six or seven, he said.
In the wake of the Dewani murder, people had said to him that the much-publicised murder must have had a major impact on tourism, “but it had had no impact whatever,” he said.
“Do you know why?” he asked, and went on to explain that people planning to go to America would still go even after the Boston bombings.
Seventy percent of South Africa’s incoming tourists were repeat visitors, he said.
Earlier, Mike Mabuyakhulu, the KZN MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, said it was time to introduce the proposed Southern African univisa. There were two countries in the region (which he did not name) which were not yet ready for it, but he suggested that the scheme should get going and they could join it later. - Daily News