Saffas travel at home, says Kortbroek

“Globally tourism was in serious trouble because of the financial crisis but in South Africa the picture continued to look good and the numbers are impressive,” Van Schalkwyk said.
The latest figures show that domestic tourism, which is the focus on the Tourism Month campaign, contributed R20 billion to the national economy in 2011. More than five million domestic trips were recorded in South Africa in the first quarter of 2012, injecting R5.2 billion to the economy.
“So as we can all see, we are doing much better than other parts of the world… this is because we are working together; we have a plan and we are executing that plan.”
But there is still a need to encourage South Africans to be tourists in their own country. A message needed to be conveyed that tourism remained a major driver of jobs and the fastest growing sector of the economy.
Tourism Month is celebrated annually in September. The Eastern Cape, notorious for its bad marketing strategies and PR blunders, has been chosen as host of this year’s main event later in the month. The province offers an attractive landscape, beautiful beaches and a wealth of natural resources.