AFRICA: SOUTH AFRICA Focus
nearly two per cent in 2009. The GDP prediction for 2010 is, howwever, expected to be around 4.3 per cent.
Economic problems remain from the apartheid era such as poverty and a shortage of public transportation. The current government follows prudent polities and is facing growing pressure from special interest groups to use state owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low income areas and to increase job growth.
More than one quarter of South Africa’s population currently receive social grants and unemployment remains high at 24 per cent (2009) and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth.
GDP per capita in 2009 was US$10,300 of which some 65 per cent comes from the services sector, 31 per cent from industry and three per cent from agriculture. The labour force in 2009 was around 17.4 million and 50 per cent of the population are below the poverty line.
South Africa is a founding member of the UN and NEPAD whilst its profile was raised considerably this year after it hosted the 2010 World Cup across nine of its cities.
Meanwhile the Republic of South Africa lies at the southern tip of Africa which
has a land area of just over 1.2m
sq.km and a population of some 49 million. It is made up of 2,798 km of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It has a population of 49 million and there are nine provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West and Western Cape.
South Africa offers a diverse range of attractions from the deserts of the Kgalagadi to the green forests of Tsitsikamma to the beaches of the Wild Coast and the nightlife of Cape Town.
Tourism has been growing steadily over the last few years. Back in 1998 the country saw 5.7 million tourists whilst the number of total foreign arrivals reached 9.9 million in 2009, a 3.6 per cent increase on the previous year ranking it 26th in the world.
Of this figure the vast majority (7.5 million) came from African land markets followed by 1.3 million from Europe, 380,000 from Americas, 322,000 from Asia and Australasia and 317,000 from African air markets.
Total foreign direct spend (including capital expenditure) in South Africa reached R89.3bn, a 7.1 per cent increase on 2008 figures. The average spend per foreign tourist was around R8.400 and the
G3i I ISSUE 2 I PAGE 9
In 1996 the National Gambling Actwas introducedwhich aimed to eliminate
illegal gambling and not only bring the
whole sector under control, but also provide freedomof choice to the players.
average length of stay was 7.5 nights. Tourism to GDP (direct and indirect) came to R194.5bn.
The growth markets in visitors to South Africa include those coming from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana, whilst African air markets recorded a growth in 2009 of 3.3 per cent.
During the first quarter of 2010 the number of tourist arrivals to South Africa came to 1.9 million, a 20 per cent growth compared to the same period in 2009. The majority (1.3 million) have come from other parts of Africa (land travel) followed by visitors from Europe (361,000); Americas (81,800); Africa air travel (75,000) and Asia and Australasia (71,000).
THECASINOMARKET Gambling was restricted in South Africa from as early as 1673 and although the 1965 Gambling Act banned all forms of gambling (except horse racing) by the late 1970s ‘casinos’ had begun to open.
The country had a flourishing illegal gambling industry which was almost entirely controlled by whites and offered absolutely no player protection. It was readily available to minors and was rife with fraud and corruption and ignored the issues associated with problem gambling.
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