PUBLICATION: Smile FM
Job creation in the tourism sector has received a big boost with the Youth4Tourism (Y4T) initiative. Youth4Tourism is a transformative private sector initiative launched by the Youth Employment Service (YES) and financial services group Sanlam. It has already placed 650 people in jobs in the tourism sector. R50 million in youth salaries and gigs will be injected back into the economy.
TOURISM SECTOR JOBS
The initiative is bringing together a wide range of businesses, funders and partners to unlock the potential of youth and help stimulate one of the most significant sectors of our economy.
YOUTH4TOURISM
Youth4Tourism has already seen youth being trained and employed as tour guides, event coordinators, concierges, chefs, guest managers, travel agents, and content creators. These content creators have been placed across South Africa to promote and support tourist attractions in their hometowns and surrounds, through creative outputs like photography and videography.
Paul Hanratty, CEO of Sanlam, says, “Currently, we have 4.9 million unemployed young people in South Africa. This is a crisis as our demographic dividend should be our greatest shared asset.”
He added, that Y4T’s purpose is to help foster employability by growing our youth into micro-entrepreneurs with sought-after, future-fit skill sets. These youths will also help bolster our SMME sector’s resilience and generate content that’ll shine a spotlight on South Africa to turbo-charge our critical tourism industry.
Businesses from all sectors
Sanlam and YES are the founding partners of the initiative and are joined by other leading corporates such as Mercedes Benz SA, Hollard, Pizza Hut, Fairtree and most recently, Sun International. There are also implementation partners such as Conservation South Africa, RLABS, Youth Content Collective (YCC) and Africa Foundation.
Tourism is a key sector in the South African economy. According to Stats SA, in January 2023, more than 2.7 million travellers passed through South Africa’s ports of entry and exit, an impressive number that is poised to grow as the sector continues to bounce back from the pandemic.
The CEO of YES, Ravi Naidoo, says “It’s inspiring to hear the stories of young people who are grabbing these opportunities. Tourism is vital to South Africa’s economy and should be our top foreign revenue generator for the country.”
He added that it’s also a great sector for the employment of young people.
Traditional tourism nodes
Importantly, these jobs being created in the traditional tourism nodes but extend from Namaqualand, through the Kruger to Canyons and into Khayelitsha where young South Africans are learning digital skills at the RLabs Digital Tourism Hub.
Businesses from all sectors are invited to join the Youth4Tourism movement, create diverse work opportunities and redefine the landscape of our tourism industry. They can join in two ways:
YES has already proven itself to be one of the true innovators in South Africa, generating over R6,5 billion in youth salaries and more than 126,000 jobs in just four years, with no government funding. Find out more at www.yes4youth.co.za and say YES to co-creating a better future for all South Africans.
MORE ABOUT: Sanlam