Cabinet has approved the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, which Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says will facilitate the preservation of R189-billion of value.

The plan is also expected to enable the tourism sector to recover to 2019 activity and employment levels by 2023.

Kubayi-Ngubane made the announcement during a media briefing to unpack the plan, which represents the tourism industry’s collective response to the devastation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plan is a product of extensive industry consultation and reflects the industry’s commitment to deep and intensive collaboration around a set of clearly defined and specific areas of cooperation.

“This plan outlines a set of interventions to ignite the recovery of the tourism sector and to place it on a path to long-term sustainability," the Minister said.

She noted that it was aligned to the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), in particular to the ERRP’s priorities in the areas of employment creation, infrastructure investment, green economy or sustainability interventions, the inclusion of women and youth and skills development.

Kubayi-Ngubane also said the plan contained a set of interventions to protect and rejuvenate supply, reignite demand and strengthen enabling capability to support the sector’s recovery.

“The goal is to preserve jobs and livelihoods within the sector, facilitate the creation of new job opportunities, match demand and supply, as well as strengthen transformation in the sector including the empowerment of women, youth and people with disabilities in the sector.

“The effective implementation of the plan will be anchored on seven strategic interventions supported by catalytic programmes with specific actions, time frames and an indication of those responsible for the implementation of each strategic intervention,” the Minister pointed out.

She added that the Department of Tourism in conjunction with its marketing entity South African Tourism would lead, coordinate and support the implementation of the plan through the reprioritisation of current resource allocation.