OVERVIEW
Tourism and events The events and conferences sector is growing across the country.
S
outh Africa gained its 10th World Heritage Site in 2018, opening up the possibility of a new type of niche tourism for the country and Mpumalanga in particular. A three-billion-year-old micro-fossil found in the Makhonjwa Mountains near Barberton and the border with Swaziland is thought to be the oldest sign of life on the planet. Now the Makhonjwa Mountains, themselves somewhere between 3.2-billion and 3.6-billion years old, have been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational‚ Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The tourist offering near Barberton has been branded the Genesis route. There are 711 745 people employed in the tourism industry, with road transport (29%), food and beverages (20%) and accommodation (19%) absorbing the largest numbers. The sector contributes 9% to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the National Department of Tourism has ambitious growth targets. It wants to see tourism contribute R1-trillion to GDP and create an additional 300 000 jobs by 2026. Tourist numbers are going up, both from traditional markets and from newer markets like China and India. In 2017, South Africa hosted SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2019
134
SECTOR INSIGHT A new World Heritage Site has been declared in Mpumalanga. • The Cape Town International Convention Centre (pictured) has increased capacity and flexibility. 10.2-million tourists. This represented a small increase of just 2% over the previous year, but that figure was a 10% improvement on the year before. The rise in tourist numbers follows determined efforts by national and provincial tourism bodies to promote the country. In Mpumalanga, links to BRICS
