The New Age reports that tourism directly employed 686,596 people in 2016, an increase of 2.7% or 17,945 employees compared with 2015, Stats SA said on Monday. The tourism share of total employment increased from 2015 (4.2%) to 2016 (4.4%).
In 2016 there were more than 15 million nonresident visitors to South Africa compared with almost 14 million in 2015 and about 14.5 million in 2014. In 2016, 33.6% were same-day visitors and 66.4% were tourists.
The report further shows that tourism direct gross value added increased from R99 348m in 2015 to R114 850m in 2016, a 156% increase.
Tourism direct gross domestic product increased from R108683m in 2015 to R125 136m in 2016, a 15.1% increase.
At the 2018 International Travel Trade Show in Berlin this month, SA Tourism CEO Sisa Ntshona said tourism was vital to the South African economy, and that the sector should be nurtured for sustained and inclusive growth. Recent data shows:
- Tourism sector directly contributed 2.9% to South Africa’s GDP in 2016
- Tourism is a larger contributor than agriculture, but smaller than other industries such as construction and mining
- Foreign tourists spent R121400m in 2016 and
- Domestic tourism expenditure totalled R144 358m.
“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,” Stats SA said.
This is more than the jobs gained in industries such as trade and utilities (electricity and water), Stats SA said.
The growing number of people employed in tourism provides some backing to Ntshona’s comment in Berlin that youngsters should consider the sector when exploring career opportunities.
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 tourism sector’s 686 596 employees outnumber the respective work forces of utilities (118000 employees) and mining (444 000 employees).
In 2016 total employment in South Africa (both formal and informal) amounted to 15.8 million workers. Of these, 4.4% (or one in every 23) were directly employed in the tourism sector, a rise of 3.8% from 2015. – 701068
The original this report appeared on page 12 of The New Age of 27 March 2018
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