South African Business 2020 edition
A unique guide to business and investment in South Africa. Welcome to the eighth edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy and give a snapshot of each of the country’s provincial economies. A special feature focusses on the huge potential for growth and job creation which the tourism industry holds. The possibilities presented by the age of renewable energy for the mining industry is the topic of another special feature and the CEO of Minerals Council South Africa responds to a set of questions on the state of mining in the country. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces.
A unique guide to business and investment in South Africa.
Welcome to the eighth edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy and give a snapshot of each of the country’s provincial economies. A special feature focusses on the huge potential for growth and job creation which the tourism industry holds. The possibilities presented by the age of renewable energy for the mining industry is the topic of another special feature and the CEO of Minerals Council South Africa responds to a set of questions on the state of mining in the country. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces.
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SPECIAL FEATURE FOCUS<br />
MELROSE ARCH<br />
The 118-room <strong>African</strong> Pride<br />
Melrose Arch Hotel forms part of<br />
a popular mixed-use complex<br />
in Johannesburg’s suburbs and<br />
recently became part of the<br />
Autograph Collection Hotels group.<br />
TRAIN ON A BRIDGE<br />
A hotel on a train on a bridge in a<br />
game reserve. This is not the plot<br />
of a children’s story, rather it is<br />
the Kruger Shalati Development,<br />
Thebe Tourism Group’s latest<br />
accommodation offering in the<br />
Kruger National Park.<br />
R8.6-billion. By way of comparison, spending from the UK currently<br />
accounts for R11-billion.<br />
Cape Town International Airport has regularly been breaking its<br />
own records for passengers, having topped 10-million passengers for<br />
the first time in 2016. Airports Company <strong>South</strong> Africa (ACSA) will spend<br />
R150-million every month for the next five years to build a new runway<br />
and in creating domestic and international terminals.<br />
Similar programmes have been underway at <strong>South</strong> Africa’s biggest<br />
airport, OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) for some time, and<br />
are continuing. This Johannesburg hub and the airport management<br />
at Durban and Port Elizabeth are all exploring ways of introducing<br />
some version of the successful Air Access programme at their venues.<br />
Success will improve the chances of reaching President Ramaphosa’s<br />
ambitious goals.<br />
Another way of raising the numbers of visitors is to improve <strong>South</strong><br />
Africa’s visa and document regime. A decision to demand unabridged<br />
birth certificates of travelling children proved damaging but steps have<br />
been taken to amend this decision. The Department of Home Affairs<br />
has committed to introducing e-visas. Some testing has been done<br />
and it is expected to be rolled out in <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
Another initiative is a private-public data and booking platform to<br />
help businesses in the tourism sector to track trends and allow people<br />
to connect. The Department of Tourism, Thebe Tourism and Amadeus<br />
IT are partners in Jurni.<br />
There are 711 745 people employed in the tourism industry, with<br />
road transport (29%), food and beverages (20%) and accommodation<br />
(19%) absorbing the largest numbers. The sector contributes 9% to<br />
<strong>South</strong> Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).<br />
The R900-million expansion of the Cape Town International<br />
Convention Centre (CTICC2) has given the city’s biggest venue<br />
additional volume and flexibility. Johannesburg and Durban are the<br />
other two <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> cities with large MICE sectors, but towns linked<br />
to research universities (like Potchefstroom and Stellenbosch) and game<br />
and nature reserves are also popular destinations for conferences. Sun<br />
City in the North West has a wide range of venues.<br />
News<br />
THE YACHT CLUB<br />
The Yacht Club was launched in<br />
Cape Town in 2019. With 170 flats,<br />
offices and an AC Hotel by Marriott,<br />
the R1.5-billion development by the<br />
Amdec Group is near the Cape Town<br />
International Convention Centre.<br />
Club Med has bought land on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, and<br />
according to the Sunday Times, will open a 350-room, 50-villa resort in 2022.<br />
A three-billion-year-old micro-fossil found in the Makhonjwa<br />
Mountains in Mpumalanga is thought to be the oldest sign of life on<br />
the planet. The Makhonjwa Mountains were declared a World Heritage<br />
Site by UNESCO in 2018. Culture and heritage accounts for 40% of world<br />
tourism and is one of the fastest-growing subsectors.<br />
In Durban, a joint venture between MSA Cruises SA and Africa<br />
33 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS <strong>2020</strong>
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