That’s according to the Tourism Business Council South Africa, which hosted the Tourism Leadership Conference in the North West. The sector presented a growth strategy, setting a target to attract 21 million visitors by 2030, with September being Tourism month. Tourism is one of the sectors that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the most, with more than 400 000 job losses.

The country’s tourism industry status has been revised downwards. Its annual target of 21 million international tourist arrivals will move to 15,6 million by the year 2030. This is after the Covid-19 pandemic caused devastation in the sector. The inaugural Tourism Leadership Conference 2022 was held under the theme “Tourism – the Engine of Growth”.

Chief Executive Officer at the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, says the impact of the pandemic is estimated to have cost the sector R54,2 billion in revenue between mid-March 2020 and the end of May 2021.

“We need to decide how we are going to work together as the private sector and government. How do we forge a partnership that will help us achieve the 2030 tourism growth strategy that we set for ourselves. It's 15.6 million tourism arrivals by 2030. Public and private partnership is important to achieve that. How do we work well with small businesses. We discussed destination marketing. How do we market SA better and together”

Tshivhengwa says, despite the massive job losses, recovery has started in the sector.

“We do know that many people lost their jobs, about 400 000. But we are recovering fast and many people are coming back to work. According to the world travel council, last year 20 000 people came back to work and this year it will be even more. In terms of the devastation, it's a lot of money that we lost. We used to contribute about 6% to GDP, we lost half. We are rebuilding.”

Chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa – Rosemary Anderson – says the government should get rid of the red tape that is preventing the creation of jobs in the sector.

“Government has undertaken to receive the list of problems we have that inhibits growth and job creation. It’s red tape and legislation when departments don’t do what they should be doing. Licences for tour operators and liquor licenses which can take two years.”

Anderson says an aggressive marketing campaign targeting an influx of international tourists will help the South African tourism sector to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.

“International tourism can solve our big unemployment problems in South Africa. We could double the number of people that come into the country and therefore double employment. Currently we employ 1.5 million people. We really need to put pressure on government to implement what they promised to implement. We cannot do this without them. If we were involved with marketing of SA, we could market it like it's never been marketed before and bring so many more tourists to our shores.”

The Deputy Tourism Minister, Fish Mahlalela, says that South Africa has continued to struggle with growth barriers, including poor road infrastructure, the closure of airlines and stringent immigration regulations.

SABC News