Page 29 - TKZN Annual Report 2023/2024

Despite a diverse economic base, distribution of benefits from economic activity is not equitable, and the province still suffers the effects of spatial displacement due to apartheid geography. The gap between rural and urban poverty rates averages around 40 percentage points. This is the reason that provinces with large rural populations also have the highest headcount of adult poverty: Limpopo (67.5%), Eastern Cape (67.3%), and KwaZulu-Natal (60.7%). Unemployment continues to rise in the province, with an increase of about 30 000 in unemployment levels between 2022 (1 176 842) and 2023 (1 207 414).
Figure 5: GDP growth: KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa, 2005–2022
Source: IHS Markit, 2021 and Statistics SA, 2020
For 2020, the provincial economy contracted by around 7.1%, with projections being that the economy will strengthen to 1.5% in 2022.
Collectively, KwaZulu-Natal has a young population, with children and young people making up approximately three quarters of the total population. This creates tremendous potential for the future, but also creates some key challenges in the present. The predominance of young people has the potential to boost the province’s future economic output, but only if these young people are being developed through a quality education system, from early childhood development (ECD), through basic education, and on to technical, vocational, and university education.
Global Tourism Environment
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) reported that an estimated 1,28bn tourists travelled internationally between January and December 2023. International was still down 22% below the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, but more than the 963 million who travelled in 2022.
These results were boosted by strong pent-up demand, improved confidence levels and the lifting of restrictions in an increasing number of destinations. International tourism increased by 3.8% in 2021 from 400mn in 2020 to 419mn in 2021 and to 917mn in 2022, reaching 61% of pre-pandemic levels.
TOURISM KWAZULU-NATAL ANNUAL REPORT 2023/2024 27