Patricia De Lille gives high five to tourism sector for high impact in job creation and economic growth

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille said she would work with both government and private lodges to make their offerings more accessible to domestic tourist markets ahead of the upcoming summer season, traditionally one of the industry’s busiest periods.

She spoke to Daily Maverick shortly after a media briefing on Friday, 11 October 2024, where she outlined her 100 days in office and plans for her department’s next five years. 

“Our consistent message to all our visitors is to come and experience a once-in-a-lifetime experience… You know, we’ve got so many things that you don’t find anywhere else in the world,” she said.

“And I’m working with all our lodges, government lodges, private lodges to begin to make those more accessible for domestic tourists… because their focus has been largely on international tourists,” she said. 

During the media briefing, she said in 2023, domestic tourism generated an impressive R121-billion in spend.

“This underscores that domestic tourism is the bedrock of our sector,” said De Lille. 

In comparison, international tourism spend contributed R95-billion to the economy in 2023.

This is De Lille’s second stint as tourism minister. She was first appointed in May 2023, and after the 2024 elections, with the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), she retained her role. This was welcomed by the industry. 

Read more: ‘Putting people first’ – SA tourism body hails De Lille’s reappointment as minister in the GNU

During a media briefing in Cape Town on Friday afternoon, De Lille said, “Employment in the tourism sector is projected to grow to 1.7 million jobs in 2024.”

That’s up from 1.46 million people employed in the sector in 2023.

“In the first quarter of this year, tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to the GDP was 8.8%, more than the construction, transport and mining sectors.”

She said this was an achievement “we are very proud of”.

The tourism sector, she said, continued to grow: with more than 5.8 million international arrivals between January and August this year, De Lille said this was “up by more than 385,000 or 7.0% compared to the same period in 2023”.

Read more: After the Bell: The critical reasons why South Africa is good at tourism

Most of the arrivals, some 4.4 million, were from other African countries, she said. 

This is a similar picture to the full 2023 calendar year figures, with 8.4 million arrivals. African travellers made up 6.4 million of these arrivals. According to De Lille, this is an increase of 51.3% compared with 2022, which was limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“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,” said De Lille. 

“Our primary goal for the next five years is to achieve 15 million tourism arrivals to our country by 2030,” she said. 

Some of her department’s plans include working with other departments such as Home Affairs, Transport, Sport, Arts and Culture as well as Operation Vulindlela within the Presidency to facilitate improvements in the visa system, growing direct flights to and from South Africa, continue with efforts for seamless tour operator licencing processes and investing in infrastructure and tourism sites which reflect and showcase the country’s diverse cultures and heritage. 

Read more: Durban tourism operators fasten seatbelts after yet another blow – water cuts

South African Tourism

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