South Africa tourism minister Tokozile Xasa has met and engaged with industry leaders at a breakfast event held at Southern Sun Elangeni in Durban.

The event, hosted during Indaba 2017, afforded the minister an opportunity to share her vision for the sector, and to encourage industry leaders to work together on the initiatives that will make tourism inclusive and sustainable under the “I Do Tourism” banner.

“We are looking at diversifying the sector and creating an environment that is conducive for the growth of the sector and inclusive for the creation of an economy enabling new entrants,” said Xasa.

“Processes are underway to finalise our National Tourism Sector Strategy.

“As government, we have an opportunity to turn the economy around, and we need your input as drivers of this sector.

“We appreciate the work that the industry is doing, and it has contributed positively to the GDP and creating employment opportunities.

“We also appreciate how you have embraced the executive development programme for women in tourism.

“The women who enrolled in the programme, will be graduating soon and this could not have been achieved without you,” said Xasa.

Chairman of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tito Mboweni, thanked the minister for making time to engage with industry players, and indicated that they look forward to further engagements on issues which affect the industry.

“Tourism is a robust and exciting industry that drives economic activity.

“We need to take full advantage of this and ensure that issues pertaining to safety and security, tax levies and government regulations that infringe on how the industry does its work are addressed,” said Mboweni.