Tourism industry in Africa grows at a remarkable pace

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk claimed that tourism industry is offering more employment opportunities as compared to the mining industry. He insisted that tourism sector is a significant contributor to the foreign currency of Africa.

“Mining is a key industry, creating jobs for thousands and thousands of people. Tourism is creating more jobs than the mining industry; it’s important we understand that,” Van Schalkwyk was quoted as saying in a Times Live report.

In addition, he accepted that the industry needs to grow at a higher pace as there are a number of unexplored areas that can generate more revenue. He said tourism in Africa offers a lot of opportunities and foreigners are showing more interest in visiting this region.

“If you look at the new exploding market in the East, that’s still under-served. We all know that over the next few years, Chinese airlines are going to grow exponentially – they’re buying planes by the hundreds.

“There is no south-south corridor. Because people have to leave China and fly to Europe, or to the Middle East… if they want to come down into Africa, or [go] to South America. We need a south-south corridor. And in my view this is the big challenge for us – to make sure we establish ourselves as the hub for that south-south corridor,” he said.

According to Van Schalkwyk, a total of 13 million international arrivals to Africa were recorded in 2012. Out of these 13 million, at least 9.2 million were international tourists while the overall year-on-year international tourist arrivals growth was 10.2 percent, he added.