Simon Nare
Tourism Department Deputy Minister Makhotso Maggie Sotyu has recommitted the department to intensify efforts to create conducive opportunities for women, youth and people with disabilities to pursue their careers in the tourism sector.
Sotyu told a Women in Tourism gathering at the Lalamanzi River Lodge in Vanderbijlpark outside Johannesburg that the department will, through its programs, ensure the three groups were included as the department grows the tourism sector.
The minister said tourism was the fastest growing sector that contributed immensely to the job creation and the economy and women will not be left behind. The country was adapting to new trends while building the sector to ensure its sustainability for future generations, she said.
“To drive sustained and inclusive growth of the tourism sector, we need to boost the talent pool. A demand-led skill supply in the sector is therefore pivotal,” she said.
Sotyu cited The Women in Tourism platform as a perfect terrace where women came together from different backgrounds to thrash out advancing transformation and integration of women in the sector.
“The Gauteng Women in Tourism chapter currently has forty-four (44) paid up members. And we are very pleased to be informed that you have started to be strong and effective again, after the many challenges you were facing. Domestic tourism remains the backbone of the sector and its value chain cascades down to our communities,” she said.
She pointed to multiple programs driven by the department which she said continued to open doors for the previously disadvantaged and young people. Some of these programs, such as the were targeting retrenched and unemployed youth aged between 18 and 35.
“The various training programmes offered focus on interventions to improve visitor experience and are based on industry demand for these skills. These programmes being offered focus on interventions to improve visitor experience and are based on industry demand for these skills.
”They are implemented in partnership with the private sector and with the objective to contribute towards poverty alleviation through payment of stipends, placement of learners in Tourism and Hospitality establishments, thereby granting them exposure to job opportunities and income generation,” she said.
She added that over the years, tourism has undergone such a diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors. This has led to programs such as Tourism Monitors Programme and Tourist Guiding being introduced and these created jobs and internship programs.
The minister said the department will continue in that vein, working with social partners to identify essential and demand-led skills required in the tourism sector and build the requisite skills through our departmental funding.
“Tourism is a significant pillar of our economy and presents us with the best chance of increasing social inclusion by making heritage and tourism work for social, spatial and economic growth. But tourism is so much more than generating revenue. It also generates goodwill. Tourism is about the people of South Africa – united in diversity,” she said.
The minister spent almost half of the day listening to challenges faced by women in tourism and promised these were being noted by departmental officials accompanying her who would attend to them.
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