South Africa’s Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu has met with the CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Dr. Leila Fourie to open discussions on how the JSE could work collaboratively with the Department of Tourism towards investment in the expansion of the tourism sector and in particular participation of and economic inclusion of women and youth.
“We had an engaging and fruitful discussion which covered a range of innovative initiatives we could immediately begin developing. Investment and collaborative efforts are essential to stimulating the growth, development and transformation of the tourism sector as an important contributor to growth and employment, especially for small tourism enterprises owned by women and youth”, said Minister Sisulu.
Interventions discussed included:
• An infrastructure fund to develop and refurbish infrastructure which supports tourism, as well as facilitates the entry of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into the sector.
• A special purpose entity (SPE) which would be used to crowd in funding for special and catalytic projects in the tourism sector, as well as funding of small and medium enterprises, and;
• A sustainability program which will stimulate local, especially rural communities to play a part in raising and trading in carbon credits in the new economy within the tourism sector.
Minister Sisulu and Dr. Fourie agreed to convene teams to begin working on these and other initiatives.
Dr Fourie thanked the Minister for initiating these discussions, and for her continued support of the work of the JSE.
