Tourism sector shows jobs and revenue gains, according to official mid-term repo

A mid-term report-back on the Western Cape’s tourism sector has found significant increases in arrivals, revenue and airline seats in the past three years.

More than 20 000 jobs have been added and foreign tourist spend increased by R4billion in the past three years.

Today (27 July 2017), Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, and Wesgro, the Province’s tourism, trade and investment promotion agency, delivered the mid-term report-back on the Western Cape’s strategy to grow the tourism sector, known as Project Khulisa.

Project Khulisa, which means 'cause to grow' in isiXhosa, is a targeted action plan to accelerate growth and jobs in the province’s most competitive sectors, which includes tourism.

The briefing comes after South African Tourism (SAT) released its official annual figures for the country’s 2016 tourism performance.

“I am pleased to announce that we’ve added 26 000 jobs to the tourism sector, taking us closer to our goal of adding up to 100 000 jobs to the sector by 2019. In line with our objective to position the province as a business destination, we have increased the value of conference bids secured from R280m in 2014, to R425m in the 2016/17 financial year. This year alone, we’ve added over 400 000 new two way international airline seats to make it easier for visitors to reach us, bringing our new seat total to 2.6 m. Improved air access played a role in our increased tourism numbers. In 2016, international tourists spent R18bn here, up from R14bn in 2014.

Minister Winde added: "We are especially encouraged that the tourism sector has managed to achieve these successes despite troubling economic times for our country. We believe that the tourism sector, which is not rand hedged, has the potential to pull us out of recession, and to save and grow jobs. Tourism can help South Africa to course correct its current economic trajectory."

Minister Winde explained that the tourism sector had boosted the Western Cape’s business confidence index.

“An analysis by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism shows how tourism infrastructure projects, such as Marriot International’s R3 bn investment, creates additional jobs in the construction sector. This means more residents have more income to spend in retail, which in turn means local businesses have higher revenue and more confidence in the economy.”

Tim Harris, Wesgro CEO, said: “The tourism industry has been a critical catalyst for economic growth and job creation in the Western Cape. As champions of Project Khulisa, Wesgro has worked with stakeholders in the tourism industry across the province to create and promote new opportunities. Through innovative approaches to leisure and business tourism promotion, we have helped minimise the effects of various industry challenges, such as seasonality, keeping the Cape at the forefront of South Africa's tourism industry. We have a number of events lined up for the rest of this year and we are working towards another record-breaking year."

Minister Winde explained that the original Project Khulisa baseline had been revised, as more detailed, and more localized research was completed by the team to assess the worth of the tourism sector at a regional level.

“Our original baseline relied on national figures, aggregated to provincial level. We've now fully developed a social accounting matrix for the province, which gives more accurate regional stats."

Minister Winde commended the tourism sector for the increased figures.

“The Western Cape tourism sector delivers world-class service, and this is why we continue to attract visitors. I would like to thank the people who work in tourism. They are at the frontline of this valuable sector, and it is through their hard work that we have been able to achieve this excellent growth.”

Below is a snapshot of the key indicators:

Project Khulisa was launched in 2014, and outlined a set of interventions to grow the size of the tourism sector, namely:

Minister Winde added that while the province continued to welcome an increasing number of visitors, it was also important for the tourism sector to continue raising awareness around the Western Cape’s water shortage.

“Research has found that in developing countries, tourists use between three and eight times more water than residents. We know that water is key for economic growth, and central to many tourism experiences. This is why we need the tourism sector to partner with us to conserve water.”

Minister Winde said many establishments had already taken measures to reduce water demand, such as posting water saving messages in room, including buckets in showers, and requesting guests to choose short showers over baths.

Minister Winde encouraged the sector to sign the Western Cape Government’s draft Economic Sector Water Security Declaration.

Please see below for more tips to reduce water in the sector:

• Encouraging guests to only request new towels and linen when necessary
• Installing water efficient appliances such as low flow shower heads, aerated taps, waterless urinals, metering to warn of leaks & overuse
• Awareness campaigns, including displaying posters in establishments in places that are easy to see (e.g. lifts, bathrooms, buses) – show tourists what the business has achieved and encourage them to use less water.

To download sound clips in English and Afrikaans, kindly visit: https://clyp.it/user/h2wn3yfi

A stream of the press conference can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/MinisterAlanWinde/videos/1373669459334747/

Kindly note that the video is cut at the start due to signal issues.

Relevant Documents:

Project Khulisa Mid-Term Reports

• Wesgro Presentation
• Tourism 2016 Figures

Project Khulisa 2017 Update