The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) is hopeful that South Africa’s recently-approved Tourism Growth Partnership Plan (TGPP) will translate into meaningful action in addressing barriers to tourism by drawing on private sector-led expertise.
The TGPP was developed after a series of workshops that gathered inputs from tourism analysts, SA Tourism, the Department of Tourism and the TBCSA.
The plan acknowledges that “exponential growth in tourism requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and an ongoing partnership between public and private role players.”
Approved by Cabinet in December 2025, the TGPP identifies five pillars to achieve the Department of Tourism’s target of 15 million arrivals per year by the end of 2029:
- Ease of access
- Coordinated destination marketing
- Tourist safety and security
- Tourism product development
- Job creation
TBCSA CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa said five working groups, comprising a combination of public and private-sector tourism role players, were set up to lead projects in each of the pillars.
“These have long been spoken about as some of the critical areas that we need to focus on to drive growth. The key now is to translate this into tangible action, harnessing the expertise of the private sector,” said Tshivhengwa.
He said significant strides have already been made in streamlining visa processes and developing and implementing South Africa’s electronic travel authorisation (ETA) but lack of a national air access strategy is holding the country back.
“We have three air access projects – in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban – working in silos. The national plan has been in discussion for some time but there have been challenges in implementing it. We hope that progress is made in that particular project this year,” said Tshivhengwa.
Cabinet approved the Route Developing Marketing Plan – the country’s national air access strategy – in December 2024 but little movement has been made to date.
A key element of the TGPP is in determining priority ETA markets and developing long-term joint marketing action plans to target these. The ETA is currently available to travellers from China, India, Indonesia and Mexico.
TBCSA Chairperson Jerry Mabena welcomed the plan as one that will push the tourism sector closer to taking its place as a leading sector of the economy.
“The industry really appreciates the changes in the tourist visa regime and we look forward to substantial growth in international arrivals. We believe that the ETA system will be a game changer and will allow us to grow international air arrivals by 40-50% over the next few years.”
Data analysis key
Independent tourism consultant Gillian Saunders stressed the need to harness the wealth of business know-how and intelligence within South Africa’s vast private-sector tourism industry.
“Most of our tourism industry is private sector-driven. Government doesn’t necessarily always understand some of the intricacies of tourism. There certainly needs to be an intense focus on tapping into the business intelligence, data and on-the-ground perspectives and feedback available,” said Saunders.
The TGPP acknowledges some shortfalls in South Africa’s data on tourist arrivals, including the double-counting of arrivals leaving to visit a neighbouring country and then returning.
Data on tourist expenditure is also “patchy”, appearing to underestimate expenditure.
“In general, within SA Tourism and Stats SA, we have fairly good tourism data but there are still a handful of challenges that can be resolved – in addition to better gathering of data from the private sector,” Saunders said.
The plan aims to support the growth of international tourism spend from R91.6 billion (US$5.6 billion) in 2024 to a targeted R115.2 billion (US$7 billion) in 2029.
