Tourism Minister, Patricia de Lille, highlighted impressive tourism sector growth during her department’s budget vote in parliament this week. However, with a smaller budget and issues like expanding air access, visa reform, transformation, and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) support on its to-do list, her department has its work cut out.

De Lille said that South Africa’s tourism sector had shown “remarkable growth” in 2023, growing by 48.9% from 2022. Tourism figures for January to May 2024 put the number of international arrivals at 3.8 million, an increase of 9.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Total foreign direct spend grew by 27.5% year-on-year, reaching R95.1 billion (€4.78bn) in the 2023/4 financial year.

Tourism's contribution to GDP had also increased by 8.8% and reached an estimated R458.9 bn (€23.7bn) in 2023, De Lille said.

Despite this growth, the Department of Tourism's budget has been reduced by approximately 3% to R2.3bn (€115.6m). The largest share of this (R1.2bn/€60.3m) will be allocated to South African Tourism to market the country both locally and abroad.                                                

“One of the key areas of work for this financial year will be the implementation of our new Global Tourism Brand Campaign to showcase South Africa as a top-of-mind destination for all potential tourists in partnership with the private sector”, De Lille said.

She said the campaign would be tailored to South Africa’s priority source markets, highlighting “South Africa’s wildlife, breathtaking landscapes, rich cultural heritage, vibrant urban experiences and thrilling adventures”.

Tourism challenges

De Lille also addressed two key areas which have bedevilled the tourism industry in the country, visas and tour operator licences.

On the first, she said South Africa had made significant progress on the visa waiver front, with residents from 132 countries now able to enter without a visa for periods of up to 90 days.

“The biggest win over the past year has been Kenya and Ghana's outstanding performance following the visa waiver for travellers from Ghana and Kenya,” she said.

She said her department would also work closely with the Department of Home Affairs and Operation Vulindlela to track visa progress, with a special focus on the key Chinese and Indian source markets.

De Lille said she had also set up a meeting with new Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber to discuss the issue.

On the issue of tour operator licences, De Lille said she noted the progress by the Department of Transport to clear application backlogs, and welcomed the signing of the National Land Transport Amendment Bill into law in June, which would help enhance efficiency.

“From June 2023 to June 2024, the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) held 19 adjudication meetings and judged a total of 952 applications for operating licences for tourist transport services. There is still a lot of work to be done on enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the system, and we look forward to working with the Minister of Transport on this key need,” she said.

Tourism opportunities

Deputy Minister of Tourism Maggie Sotyu highlighted the role that MICE tourism is playing in tourism growth in her speech.                                                                                               

“As a country, our reputation as a destination for business tourism is undisputed. The quality of business events held in South Africa is world-renowned. “

De Lille said that in the 23/24 financial year, South African Tourism's National Convention Bureau had submitted 95 bids for business events to be hosted in South Africa between 2024 and 2032. Together, these have a combined economic value of over R1.5bn (€75.4m), with the potential to attract 60 000 international and regional delegates to the country.

Of the bids submitted, the country has won 19, with a combined economic contribution of over R84m (€4.2m) between 2024 and 2025, and attracting over 3000 delegates.

De Lille said air access was also an important area of focus as “we need to get more international flights into our country”. She said a National Air Access strategy had been developed and would be presented to cabinet “in the next few months”.