By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has welcomed Cabinet’s approval of the The White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa which was gazetted on Friday, 4 October 2024.
This White Paper now provides an agreed policy framework and guidelines for tourism development and promotion in South Africa, said De Lille in a statement.
“This policy will promote entrepreneurship in the tourism sector and ensure the sector’s enhanced contribution to employment,” she said.
Furthermore, the policy proposals also on “aligning the tourism policy with current government policy frameworks and to enhance the sector’s resilience and ability to respond to crisis”.
The tourism sector in South Africa has continued to grow over the past decade, earning the reputation of being one of the most significant and fastest-growing sectors.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to South Africa’s GDP was 8.2% in 2023. In terms of job creation, according to WTTC statistics, South Africa’s tourism sector employed 1.46 million people in 2023 and the sector’s contribution is expected to grow to 1.7 million jobs in 2024.
Despite its impressive contribution to the South African economy, the tourism sector lags behind relative to its potential, added De Lille, saying to respond to this challenge, the Department of Tourism embarked on a process of reviewing the 1996 Tourism White Paper. The policy review process has resulted in a Tourism White Paper that seeks to sustainably and competitively grow the South African economy through an inclusive, inspiring, and visitor-oriented tourism sector.
The strategy focuses on various pillars including:
• Infrastructure development
• Optimising astronomy tourism streams
• Public/private partnerships
• Inclusive tourism and transformation.
“We would like to thank all stakeholders and the public who took the time to review and make input into the policy process. It was clear that stakeholders supported the policy review process, which was identified by many as long overdue. We now need a collective effort to build on the relationships that have been established as we move towards implementing the Tourism White Paper principles so that tourism can reach its full potential in South Africa,” De Lille said.