Tourism in shadow of xenophobia

DURBAN: Despite fears of recent violent attacks on foreign workers in Durban impacting tourism, South Africa is gungho about this industry being one of the main drivers of its economic growth. Going by the economic contribution, tourism in South Africa has outstripped all other sectors in growth figures over the past few financial years, said government ministers.
In Durban, where the threeday Indaba conference -Africa's biggest tourism marketing event -just concluded, tourists and conference delegates poured in from all parts of the world. However, only a few short weeks ago, violence broke out in the Kwazulu-Natal province of South Africa, of which Durban is the main economic centre, killing at least seven people, most of whom were immigrant workers from other African countries.
“The attacks were very unfortunate, but there was a swift response from the government and from civil society . Thousands of citizens marched to protest the attacks and in solidarity with the victims," South African minister of tourism, Derek Hanekom, said during a conference at Indaba. The attacks are partly to blame for a few African countries, such as Mozambique and the DRC, pulling out of the tourism summit at the last minute.
Yet, despite these setbacks, tourism in South Africa is definitely growing.
The country sees 10 million overseas visitors every year, and the tourism industry contributes 10% to the country's GDP, while employing 1.4 million people. “Despite the challenges that beset us last year, from terrorism to Ebola on the continent, which impact tourism in Africa as a whole even though we are physically far removed from these threats, tourism grew by over 6% in 2014," said Thulani Nzima, CEO of South African Tourism.
The writer was in Durban at the invitation of South African Tourism.