Travel in South Africa - Essay Example

The country is characterized by world class infrastructure, friendly citizens as well as spectacular scenery. This sector received a major boost during the 2010 world cup when it received the highest number of visitors in history. There are various benefits associated with the industry in South Africa. Tourism and travel provides foreign exchange for the country. This gives the governments enough money to offset the foreign debts, allows the South African Rand to remain at par with the US dollar.

It also allows the government to pay its employees (Walker and Keith 15). This means that governments have money that is dedicated towards constructive projects such as education, infrastructure as well as health care. The South African citizens that go for shopping sprees abroad have the money to buy goods and services as long as the foreign currencies are readily available in the economy (Walker and Keith 22). Finally, tourism and travel facilitates exportation of goods into the country. Tourism and travel leads to the direct and indirect creation of jobs.

When tourists visit the country, it leads to job creation for jewelry trades, drivers and vendors that are directly involved in the sector (Walker and Keith 33). Tourism and travel also has an indirect impacts on landlords and other traders. The sector plays a key role in ensuring job creation in the hotel and entertainment industries. As earlier stated the tourism and travel sector employs one out of every twelve individuals in the economy. The tourism sector contributes towards infrastructure development as the government works towards developing roads, electricity and communication networks in the country to attract tourists.

This results into an infrastructure improvement in the country (Walker and Keith 67). The tourist and travel sector results into cultural preservation through economic and cultural incentives. Finally, it results