SANParks Plants Indigenous Trees At Newlands Forest To Support Rehabilitation Efforts
South African National Parks (SANParks) is pleased to announce that the seedling planting initiative has commenced along the Woodcutters Trail at Newl...
Media Release: BEE and Open Safari Vehicle Permits
Making the announcement at this year’s Tourism Indaba in Durban, SANParks Executive Director for Tourism Development and Marketing, Glenn Phillips said as a public entity, the organisation played a key role in the implementation of the BEE Tourism Scorecard.
“In order to fast track the broad transformation of this sector in the near future, the granting of permits will be subject to compliance with the requirements of the BEE Tourism Scorecard and the SANParks Supply Chain Management Policy”.
“Once the Department of Trade and Industry Good-Practice Codes and the Tourism Scorecard have been gazetted, they will be applied in full by SANParks and the issuing of permits will be subject to the BEE status as per BEE Tourism Scorecard criteria,’ said Phillips.
He added, however, that in the interim SANParks was offering an incentive to operators that meet the Tourism Scorecard BEE criteria.
“Those operators that produce compliance certificates from recognised compliance evaluators that confirms their BEE status as a good or excellent BEE contributor at the time of application, and not later than 31 October 2006, will be granted 25% discount for the permit year 01 November 2006 to 31 October 2007′.
“We therefore would like to appeal to all operators to embark on a process that will ensure compliance with the BEE Tourism Scorecard as soon as possible,” said Phillips.
Turning to the issue of pricing for OSVs, Phillips said that for some time now, SANParks had been discussing the pricing of the permits for Open Safari Vehicles operating in the Kruger National Park and after careful consideration and consultation, the organisation had made the decision to charge the annual fee of R5 000 per vehicle.
“In order to lessen the impact on operators, this increase will be phased in over a period of two years. Therefore the price for OSV permits will increase to R2 500 from 01 November 2006 and R5 000 from 01 November 2007.
“OSV operators will in future be able to pick up pre-solicited guests inside the park without additional charges and it is envisaged that OSV rates per person upon admission will remain at R120 until at least 31 October 2007,” said Phillips.
He further announced that SANParks would be updating safety requirements for Open Safari Vehicles in line with the changing legislative and risk environment and that all OSV operators would be kept up to date with developments on this front.
Issued by: South African National Parks
Inquiries: Lulama Luti
General Manager: Media & Stakeholder Liaison
082-905-4645