They are the catalysts that can lead to significant changes — and for the purposes of this blog, we’re exploring how tourism can become a far bigger industry, providing many more meaningful, upwardly-mobile jobs, very quickly.
There are people and businesses, some of which we’ve met in the past few months, that have an impact that is extraordinary. And there are others, notably local government, who just don’t get what tourism is all about. Tourism has grown in spite of them.
But the gamechanger with the biggest negative impact on tourism is undoubtedly the Department of Home Affairs new visa regulations. If the DA is correct, SA could see over 536,000 fewer foreign visitors, leading to a loss of 1.5 million tourism industry jobs. The estimated cost to the economy is R8.6 billion.
We’ve added a new category to Travels with Beezus — Gamechangers. You can read all the posts in that category — click here.