By Simon Nare
The G20 Tourism Ministers and invited countries have endorsed South Africa’s priority areas and action plan for building a sustainable tourism industry.
In a declaration adopted at their meeting at the iconic Kruger National Park, ministers from the G20 agreed that the four priorities outlined by South Africa’s Presidency of the economic bloc align with the goals of sustainable tourism.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille, opening the meeting, told her counterparts from around the world that as host of the G20 Presidency, South Africa had identified four priority areas: digital innovation to enhance travel, tourism financing to promote equality and sustainable development, improved air connectivity for seamless travel, and greater resilience.
After deliberations, the ministers endorsed these priorities and encouraged both member and invited countries to integrate them into their policies.
“We recognise that strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth and development of tourism is essential for tourism to remain a key driver of development and major contributor to gross domestic product and employment.”
“We further encourage G20 members and invited countries to embed sustainability and environmental considerations into tourism policies by shifting focus from visitor numbers to long-term value and impact and priorities low-emissions, resource efficient and biodiversity-friendly practices while promoting circulation across the tourism value chain in accordance with national strategies and needs,” read the declaration.
The ministers expressed strong support for tourism innovation and investment, enhancing air connectivity, facilitating people-to-people contacts, and developing inclusive and sustainable tourism practices in the spirit of South Africa’s Presidency theme: Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.
They further recognised that integrating digital innovation, especially Artificial smart platforms and data-driven solutions, was no longer a future ambition but rather a present necessity to help address challenges faced by the tourism sector in particular micro, small and medium enterprises and rural communities.
On tourism financing, the declaration stated that integrating tourism into national development strategies was important to unlock financing for sustainable tourism.
“To complement scarce resources, we call for the mobilisation of public-private capital through transparent, predictable, and sustainability-aligned investment environment.”
“We underscore the importance of project preparation, blended and impact finance, advocating for the creation of equity funding schemes and risk-sharing facilities to lower barriers for private participation with emphasis on transparency and accountability,” said the declaration.
It further stressed that air connectivity played a vital role in driving tourism development as air travel accounted for 56% of all international arrivals and more than 70% for over half of G20 economies.
The ministers acknowledged that enhancing air connectivity for seamless travel would promote solidarity, coherence among people, equal opportunity, and sustainable development.
They called for cooperation between tourism and aviation administrations, saying this would help foster partnerships between the tourism and transport sectors.
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