President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that government will use the upcoming G20 summit to profile and actively promote South Africa as a tourism destination of choice, saying the tourism sector has significant potential.

South Africa assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2024 and will host the G20 Leaders’ Summit later this year.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that government is scaling up a range of tourism promotion strategies to restore inbound tourism figures to pre-pandemic levels.

He said these strategies included an improved tourism visa regime, streamlining the tour operator licence process, increased investment in tourism infrastructure and services, and improving safety and security at tourism sites.

“Following a slump in tourism numbers because of the Covid-19 pandemic, inbound tourism is on the rise. In 2023, South Africa recorded around 8.5-million international tourist arrivals. These visitors spent over R95-billion,” he said.

He pointed out that domestic tourism was the mainstay of the tourism economy, highlighting that between January and July last year, South Africans took over 21-million trips to explore their country.

Last year, the World Economic Forum ranked South Africa as Africa’s premier tourism destination.

Ramaphosa highlighted that this was owing to factors such as the country’s business operating environment, IT and tourism infrastructure and services.

He said the country’s tourism sector employed about 1.5-million people directly and indirectly, pointing to the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which he said continued to support job creation by providing work opportunities for young people as tourism monitors and by supporting tourism-related small, medium-sized, and microenterprises.

He said a partnership between government, business and communities could ensure the country’s natural splendour became a driver of economic growth, job creation and shared prosperity.

The Government of National Unity had identified tourism growth as a vital part of creating employment, he pointed out.

In October last year, Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille released a new White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa, which Ramaphosa said would guide government’s approach to building a sustainable, competitive and inclusive tourism industry.

“Tourism is a growth area for small business development. In line with the global shift towards sustainability, figures from South African Tourism show that increasing numbers of new tourism ventures are centred around sustainable tourism and eco-friendly business practices,” he explained.

South Africa’s natural endowment was an integral part of the country’s national heritage, he said.

“…it is an asset to our economy that every year draws millions of tourists from around the world to our shores. Beyond the substantial natural resource endowments of our beaches, national parks and biodiversity conservation areas, cultural and heritage tourism is also thriving in South Africa,” he added.