{"id":93656,"date":"2025-09-11T16:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93656"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:45:13","slug":"un-tourism-chief-hails-south-africa-as-gateway-to-global-tourism-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=93656","title":{"rendered":"UN Tourism Chief hails South Africa as gateway to global tourism investment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili used the opening day of the Tourism Investment Summit in Cape Town this week to position South Africa as a continental gateway for private tourism capital, launching a new investor guide and pressing for investments that go \u201cbeyond bricks and mortar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa is one of the most attractive destinations for tourism investment,\u201d Zurab said as he opened the maiden ourism Investment Summit and unveiled the\u00a0Tourism Doing Business Guide \u2013 Investing in South Africa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pololikashvili framed the guide as a practical roadmap for investors, saying it \u201cprovides investors with a practical roadmap of opportunities, incentives, and projects. It is designed to build confidence and facilitate concrete commitments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also pointed to South Africa\u2019s tourism scale as evidence of opportunity: \u201cLast year alone, the country welcomed almost 9 million international arrivals, alongside 47 million domestic trips,\u201d he told delegates, noting tourism\u2019s sizable 12% plus contribution to the economy of South Africa.<\/p>\n

Going beyond the national guide, the Secretary-General used the platform to unveil a first-of-its-kind regional publication \u2014 an\u00a0Investing in Africa<\/em>\u00a0guidebook \u2014 and argued the continent is a dynamic frontier for tourism capital. \u201cTogether, South Africa\u2019s national guide and Africa\u2019s regional roadmap send a clear message: tourism is not only open for investment, but ready to lead with sustainability, innovation and inclusion,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General also underscored that tourism investment must go beyond infrastructure. \u201cInvesting in tourism means mobilizing resources to enable access to education and human capital development,\u201d he said, announcing the delivery of 100 UN Tourism Online Academy Scholarships to South Africa to boost youth empowerment and skills development.<\/p>\n

The South African Tourism Investment Summit, taking place on 9th and 10th September 2025, has convened global leaders, policymakers, investors, and industry stakeholders in Cape Town to drive investment and develop a robust investment pipeline for South Africa\u2019s tourism industry. The aim is to further develop destination development projects by showcasing tender ready investment opportunities.<\/p>\n

This invitation only event is expected to offer a curated audience access to key strategic conversations, moulding and shaping the future of the South African Tourism Sector.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, who hosted the summit as a G20 legacy project, delivered the opening address and provided the national investment context that was backed by the \u00a0UN Tourism Chief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Minister De Lille presented eight flagship, bankable projects \u2014 ranging from the God\u2019s Window Skywalk in Mpumalanga to the Hole in the Wall Resort in the Eastern Cape \u2014 and said the eight offerings together represent nearly R1 billion in investment-ready opportunities. \u201cThis Summit marks the beginning of that answer. This is our inaugural Tourism Investment Summit, a G20 legacy project,\u201d she told the room.<\/p>\n

\"UN<\/figure>\n

De Lille also pointed to recent policy changes intended to broaden financing options, noting the Amended National Treasury Regulation 16 for Public-Private Partnerships (effective 1 June 2025) and urging investors to propose blended finance, design-build-operate and other innovative models.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the right mix, we can build infrastructure, create jobs, and uplift communities, all at once,\u201d she said, while highlighting major private developments such as the V&A Waterfront Granger Bay project and Club Med\u2019s KwaZulu-Natal resort as early signs of confidence.<\/p>\n

The summit \u2014 convening ministers, investors and private developers \u2014 closed its opening session with a clear call from both the UN and South Africa\u2019s tourism ministry: channel investment into a pipeline that delivers returns and jobs, skills and inclusive growth across the country and region. The initiative aligns with South Africa\u2019s broader economic goals \u2013 economic growth and job creation in the South African Tourism sector, and the G20 Sustainable Tourism Framework.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"UNUN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili used the opening day of the Tourism Investment Summit in Cape Town this week to position South Africa as a continental gateway for private tourism capital, launching a new investor guide and pressing for investments that go \u201cbeyond bricks and mortar.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8351,1925,10,9,2145,8352,8353],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-tourism-investment","category-hp-entertainment-2","category-politics","category-popular","category-travel-and-tourism","category-un-tourism-chief","category-zurab"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}