Cape Town – South Africa’s tourism sector is poised to add almost a quarter of a million jobs in 2024, says Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille.
Speaking at a media briefing in Parliament on Friday, 11 October, to mark the Government of National Unity’s first 100 days in office, De Lille said tourism jobs would increase to 1.7 million this year from 1.46 million in 2023.
Minister of Tourism, @PatriciaDeLille to brief media on 100 Days in Office under the GNU.#100DaysInOffice#LeaveNoOneBehind#7thAdministration#WeDoTourismhttps://t.co/0oaBGXPJyG
— Dept of Tourism (@Tourism_gov_za) October 11, 2024
Daily Maverick reports that De Lille said her department was “very proud of the fact” that the sector contributed 8.8% to the GDP, “more than the construction, transport and mining sectors”.
She’s counting on domestic tourism, which she described as “the bedrock” of the sector, to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of generating revenue.
In 2023, domestic tourism generated R121-billion in spend compared to international tourism, which contributed R95-billion to the economy in 2023.
That said, the tourism department intends almost doubling tourist arrivals to 15 million by 2030.
Last year, tourist arrivals topped 8 million, by far the majority of them from African countries.
“The growth has been promising, but we remain resolute to work harder on marketing initiatives and building our tourism offering to attract even more visitors,” De Lille said.
G20 opportunity
The minister also expects SA’s hosting of the G20 summit of international leaders in 2025 to create “huge opportunities” for international travel, Moneyweb reports.
“We are going to use the opportunity to sell the beauty of South Africa to all G20 delegates through offering packages … encouraging them to come earlier, or stay longer and enjoy more of South Africa,” she said.
Safety
According to TimesLive, the minister also floated the idea of establishing a dedicated policing unit to protect tourists.
Safety is one of the priorities of the white paper on tourism released last week. It calls for an “intelligence-based tourist safety programme” and collaboration between law enforcement agencies, private security players, the justice system and local communities.
The department last year allocated R174.2 million for the deployment of 2 300 “tourism monitors” to help police nationally, including at national parks such as the Kruger National Park.
It’s not only the safety of tourists that is of concern, according to EWN. De Lile said many small tourism businesses, in townships and remote areas, were at the mercy of extortionists demanding protection money. She reportedly expressed concern that her department could not protect small businesses in the sector.
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