iLembe tourism contributes R3.4-billion toward GDP in first half of 2023
Domestic tourism continues to provide a much-needed boost to help sustain many tourism businesses, and will continue to be a key driver of recovery in the short to medium term.
iLembe district tourism figures are on the rise, indicating the resilience of the sector despite several years of negative impacts such as the Covid-19 pandemic, unrest and floods – but with loadshedding still having an influence.
Released by Enterprise iLembe last week, the tourism performance report for the period January to June this year indicated remarkable growth in gross domestic product (GDP), which surpassed 2019 figures before the disruptive impacts.
It is estimated that the total contribution towards the GDP was in the region of R3.4-billion during the first half of the year.
This means more than R2.3-billion in indirect and induced GDP impacts were added to the economy as a result of visitors’ direct expenditure.
In addition, more than R816-million contributed to household income and R263-million to taxes.
“This serves as an indication that the tourism sector in iLembe has started to recover, and is showing actual growth post-pandemic,” said CEO of Enterprise iLembe, Linda Mncube.
A study found visitor figures had increased by 5% from last year’s 362 906 visitors.
“The portion of international visitors to iLembe had also increased, and represents 23% of visitors to the region,” said Mncube.
The majority came from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and Germany.
International visitors opted to visit the region mostly during the first three months of the year, while intra-provincial travel was dominant from April onward. Driving the spike in intra-provincial travel, Enterprise iLembe reports, was likely the result of events such as Africa’s Travel Indaba, the Ballito Pro and other similar events.
“Visitor spend here was calculated at R2.2-billion, which was 37% more than what was generated in the same period of 2022’s R1.6-billion,” said Mncube.
While the overall trend seems to point toward a more lucrative market in terms of spending and travel, more needs to be done to increase visitor numbers to pre-pandemic level, said Mncube.
He added approximately 3.38 job opportunities were created for every R1-million of direct expenditure, meaning an estimated 7 255 job opportunities and 1 973 actual jobs were supported by tourism between January to June this year.
“The growth of domestic tourism leads to the creation of jobs in the hospitality sector, transportation, retail and other related industries, which can help reduce unemployment and stimulate economic development.”
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