/ 9 September 1998

Tourism can create 170000 jobs

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.30pm.

THE travel and tourism industry in South Africa has the capacity to create 174000 new jobs by 2010, according to a report by World Travel and Tourism Council president Geoffrey Lipman on Tuesday.

The council’s assessment is based on the ability of the sector to attract substantial private sector investment, its ability to stimulate small and medium enterprise development, its labour intensive nature; its potential to act as a catalyst for major infrastructure investment, and its value as a non-primary export earner, the report said.

Tourism Minister Pallo Jordan, who attended the briefing said: “This study indicates that these will be highly accessible jobs, especially for women, for the less skilled and for new entrants to the job market.

Jordan added that a task team co-ordinated by the department of environmental affairs and tourism has compiled a submission to the Presidential jobs summit in October. The submission will consist of a range of initiative aimed at boosting tourism.