South Africa’s tourism industry is going digital. Can its businesses keep up?
South Africa is placing digital technology at the heart of its tourism growth strategy, as highlighted by Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille at the launch of Tourism Month 2026 in Durban. The country aims to leverage platforms like TikTok to attract visitors and empower smaller businesses in the digital era.
The Government-Business Partnership, established in 2023, has launched its third phase with the ambitious goal of boosting economic growth above 3% and creating one million additional jobs by 2030. Despite the partnership's focus on stabilisation, reform, and growth, South Africa's unemployment rate has continued to rise, remaining above 33%.
In the second quarter of 2026, the official unemployment rate surged to 33.6%, up from 32.7% in the first quarter, and the number of unemployed people increased by 345,000 to reach 8.5 million. The partnership acknowledges that the current growth rate is insufficient to significantly reduce unemployment. President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized that Phase Three must transition from progress to faster growth, investment, and employment.
This phase will continue to focus on energy, transport, logistics, crime and corruption, and youth employment while adding mining, tourism, infrastructure, and agriculture and agro-processing as new growth drivers. The partnership aims to attract R3 billion in investment and seeks to boost confidence to drive growth and job creation.
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