Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism

1. (i) The Department does not directly promote the Western Cape as a tourism destination, as this mandate is delegated to Wesgro as the Province’s official Destination Marketing Organisation. However, the Department does promote the importance of tourism locally through initiatives such as Tourism Month campaigns and tourism awareness training.

(ii) The Department’s tourism growth strategies are outlined in various policy and strategy documents, including the Growth for Jobs Strategy, Tourism Blueprint 2030, the Western Cape Government’s Cape of Great Events Strategy and the Department’s Annual Performance Plans.

The key focus areas of these strategies are:

• Improving destination accessibility, connectivity and mobility
• Increasing investment in tourism infrastructure, activities, experiences and attractions
• Improving the regulatory environment and supportive ecosystem
• Improving destination reputation and visitor safety
• Building high-performing tourism businesses and labour force
• Promoting inclusivity and sustainability
• Increasing investment in core, opportunity and emerging markets   

(iii)        In terms of boosting employment, the Department implements various initiatives, including skills development and training, promoting career and entrepreneurship opportunities to youth, providing funding to MSMEs and promoting funding and other support programmes available through other partners.       

(b)  Key challenges include:

• Resource constraints at provincial and municipal spheres means that government is not easily able to optimise the economic growth that the tourism industry can offer
• Safety concerns undermine the destination’s reputation and attractiveness
• Visa challenges deter potential tourists from selecting South Africa as a destination
• Skills gaps mean that companies cannot adequately optimise opportunities
• Uncertainty and instability of the local tourism ecosystem caused by MFMA Circular 131, resulting in the defunding of partnership-based local tourism offices
• Digital disruption erodes the competitiveness of local tourist companies
• Tourism infrastructure is ageing and cannot cope with rising demand
• Inability to develop and maintain competitive product offerings and poor customer service hinders breakout growth in arrivals from being realised.