Question NW806 to the Minister of Tourism

Reply:

a) As part of reigniting demand, domestic tourism market has been prioritised for recovery of the sector. In this regard, the Department of Tourism and its entity SA Tourism are running a domestic tourism campaign. This is supported by the continuation of the Sho’t left campaign, which supports a deal driven and consumer based approach. It also includes outreaches by the Minister and Deputy Minister to take the campaign to some of the best attractions across the rural areas, small towns and townships that don’t always get as much coverage. Thus, there is only one domestic tourism campaign supported by various initiatives including support for compliance with COVID19 operational safety requirements. Going forward, the Department of Tourism and SA Tourism will add a domestic events campaign focusing on both business and other events.

B) Tourism sector jobs are accounted for through the Tourism Satellite Account and, also through estimates by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The latest available figures are for 2019 from the WTTC, which indicate that direct employment was at 759,900 jobs, and combined (direct and indirect) employment was at 1,483,200 jobs. It is imporatant to note that in measurement of impact, such as employment, there is no separation between jobs from domestic tourist activities and those from activities by international tourists as services are provided to both tourists’ categories alike. However, the Department of Tourism anticipates that the jobs reported for the 2019 period would have been severely impacted upon by the outbreak of the pandemic.