Tourism is a larger contributor to the GDP than agriculture

The tourism sector directly contributed 2.9% to the South African gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, according to the latest release of Stats SA’s annual Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for South Africa report.

This makes the tourism sector a larger contributor than agriculture (2% to GDP), but smaller than other industries such as construction and mining.

The TSA covers economic activity, employment and spending in the tourism sector and Stats SA announced its data today during a press briefing.

The 2.9% to GDP is an estimated R125.1 billion.

In terms of the direct economic activity of the sector’s contribution to GDP, in 2015 when stringent measures over the movement of children were introduced by the department of home affairs (DHA), the statistics reveal that the policy negatively impacted the sector, Stats SA said.

The TSA shows that one in 23 persons are employed or worked in the tourism sector in South Africa in 2016, which is 4.4% of the total workforce in the country. This is 686 596 people who were directly employed in the sector that year.

The report also provides a picture of employment patterns within the sector. Despite the challenges that tourism has endured over the last few years, it outperformed other key industries in terms of job creation, adding just more than 40 000 net new jobs to the economy over the five-year period from 2012 to 2016. This is higher than the number of jobs gained in industries such as trade and utilities (electricity, gas and water).

Tourism also gained more jobs than manufacturing over this period. From 2012 to 2016, the manufacturing industry had a torrid time, experiencing a net loss of 125 000 jobs, Stats SA said.

The tourism sector’s 686 596 employees outnumber the respective workforces of utilities (118 000 employees) and mining (444 000 employees). In 2016 total employment in South Africa (both formal and informal) amounted to 15.8 million workers, the TSA revealed.

Twenty-nine percent of the jobs are in road transport, 21% in food and beverages, 19% in accommodation, retail of tourism products accounts for 16% and 4% of the jobs are in travel agencies and 10% fall under the category, ‘other’.

Employment by race group in the six largest tourism industries:

• 77% of employees are black Africans in all tourism jobs
• 11% are coloureds
• 4% are Indian and Asian
• 9% are white

In the retail of tourism products, employment by race group is as follows:

• 73% are black Africans
• 12% are coloureds
• 6% are Indian, Asian
• 9% are white

Employment by race group in the passenger transport industry in the tourism sector:

• 60% are black Africans
• 14% are coloureds
• 5% are Indian, Asian
• 21% are whites

The number of people working in the tourism sector over time has been steadily increasing since 2006. However, in 2015 when the DHA introduced the regulations on travelling with children, there was a slight decline in the employment figures in the sector, but the steady increase resumed again in 2016.

The TSA reveals that for every R100 spent in the tourism sector, 46% was spent by international visitors and 54% was spent by domestic visitors in 2016. That adds up to a total R265.8 billion.

Furthermore, for every R100 spent by international visitors, R12 went to road transport, R28 went to non-specific products, R15 to accommodation, R12 to air transport and R15 went to tourism-connected products.

With regards to spending by domestic visitors, R28 is spent on road transport and 14% went to air transport, which is R2 less compared to road transport. That shows that visitors, including international visitors, prefer sight-seeing once touring the country.

The value of tourism expenditure inbound is R121.4 billion, and outbound is an estimated R78.5 billion, and the trade balance is about R42.9 billion.

Domestic expenditure is about R144.4 billion, and the total amount spent is R265.8 billion.

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