By BAKANG MOKOTO
Tourism contributes immensely to enhancing job opportunities and economic significance in the local population. In 2016, the tourism sector directly contributed 2.9% to South African Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This makes the tourism sector a larger contributor than agriculture, but smaller than other industries such as construction and mining. As tourism is mostly celebrated in September, now on 7 September 2022, the North West MEC for Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation, and Tourism (DEDECT), Kenetswe Mosenogi will be launching the Provincial 2022 Tourism Month at Stonehenge River Lodge in Parys.
Mosenogi said this year’s tourism month will be celebrated under the theme “Rethinking Tourism” which encourages all stakeholders in the tourism industry to reconsider the approach to tourism to be able to respond to global crises, health issues, variations in the tourist market, the transformation agenda, and many other variables that may affect the industry.
“The celebration will also provide an opportunity to unlock the potential of the tourism ecosystem and its extensive value chain. It will also facilitate tourism investment, which can deliver more inclusive and sustainable growth for the local economy.
“In addition, it will provide an opportunity to promote domestic tourism and foster a culture of travel across the country. The national and provincial tourism authorities promote September as tourism, heritage and arbour month as well as encouraging citizens to consume alcohol responsibly,” she said.
Mosenogi said the awareness campaigns are carried out by the department in collaboration with its agencies, the North West Tourism Board (NWTB) and the North West Parks Board (NWPB), as well as the four district municipalities.
She said the launch will also be used to share the provincial tourism month program with the media and will be followed by a media tour program that will give an experience of a variety of tourism activities and
attractions in and around the Vredefort Dome area.
In 2018 at the International Travel Trade Show held in Germany, South African Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona was quoted as stating that tourism is vitally important to the South African economy and the sector should be nurtured for sustained and inclusive growth.
Recent data from Stats SA show how important tourism actually is. The report also provides a picture of employment patterns within the sector. Despite the challenges that tourism has endured over the last few years, it outperformed other key industries in terms of job creation, adding just over 40 000 net new jobs to the economy over the five-year period from 2012 to 2016.1 This is higher than the number of jobs gained in industries such as trade and utilities (electricity, gas, and water).
Tourism also gained more jobs than manufacturing over this period. From 2012 to 2016, the manufacturing industry had a torrid time, experiencing a net loss of 125 000 jobs.
The Guardian 