New hotels are being built. Tourism

Sector Insight

A Green Tourism Incentive Programme is available.

was launched by Airlink in April 2022. These new flights are in addition to Emirates flying five flights a week from Durban directly to Dubai and the fourweekly direct flights that Qatar Airways offers.

The Industrial Development Corporation, one of South Africa’s biggest institutional investors, is active in the tourism sector. Among its products is the Green Tourism Incentive Programme, which incentivises privately owned tourism companies to move towards using renewable energy and efficient water utilisation. It also supports local economic development, such as initiatives in Limpopo to develop new hotels in the Musina area.

The northern parts of that province are experiencing a boom in business tourism due to an uptick in mining operations. Elsewhere in the Vhembe District Municipality, the African Century Group is building a four-star Premier Hotel at Thohoyandou and the team behind the venture expects to fill its 120 rooms.

A similar trend can be seen in the Northern Cape, where the Country Hotels group has developed a three-tier offering covering most of the province, spurred in part by the rapid rise of the renewable energy sector in that province.

In Durban, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Umhlanga (pictured), shortly after celebrating its one-year anniversary in July 2023, received two awards from Durban Tourism, the Visitor Experience and Restaurants Award as well as the Meetings, Exhibitions and Special Events (MESE) Award. Premier Hotels & Resorts has two new properties in Umhlanga and recently restored its Cutty Sark property, further down the coast in Scottburgh.

Turkish Airlines returned to King Shaka International Airport in 2022. Two of the airline’s Istanbul-Johannesburg flights now extend to Durban on Thursdays and Saturdays and it has plans to increase these to four weekly flights. A new direct flight from Durban to Harare in Zimbabwe

Online Resources

African Business Travel Association: www.abta.co.za

South African National Parks: www.sanparks.co.za

South African Tourism: www.southafrica.net

PHOTO: Radisson Blu

South African National Parks (SANParks), which runs nearly 70% of South Africa’s 509 state and protected areas, has a number of public-private partnerships and held an investment summit in 2022 to showcase a further 100 opportunities in 12 national parks. There are currently 60 PPPs in operation in South Africa.

Sun City announced in October 2022 that it would spend about R1.1-billion on projects at its Sun City Resort. The R295-million Lefika Villas development will see 58 threeand four-bedroom villas added to the resort’s accommodation options for members of Sun International’s Sun Vacation Club. The Palace will gain a spa and a gymnasium and 320 bedrooms are to be refurbished.

There are 711 745 people employed in the tourism industry nationally, 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). ■