​National Tourism Service Excellence Strategy

The National Tourism Service Excellence Strategy was developed in 2011 as a response to the following position statements and policies:

• The White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa, 1996 states that there is a general culture of poor service in the tourism sector and related sectors. There is also lack of enthusiasm in delivering service and in 'going the extra mile' to satisfy customers;

• The Tourism Skills Audit, 2008 states that there is a lack of service ethos in the tourism sector;

• The Tourism Human Resources Development Strategy, 2008 states that in each of the tourism subsectors, there is a lack of critical lack of skills. Communication, customer and guest relations and languages are the most common areas in which generic skills are lacking; and

• The Current Customer Service Delivery in South Africa Research Report, 2009 states that the current state of customer service delivery within the country is inconsistent, with visitors experiencing extremes of poor to excellent service

The vision of the programme is to build a service excellence culture in the tourism value chain and the mission is to transform service and create a customer service-orientated environment by crafting a solution-orientated culture of customer service in the tourism value chain.

The short term goal is to provide a pleasant and unforgettable service experience to South Africa's visitors and all other customers in the tourism sector.