The Eastern Cape desperately needs jobs. At the same time, it possesses one of SA’s greatest tourism assets.
Recent provincial figures indicate that the province welcomed about 2.2-million tourists in the final quarter of 2025, including about 350,000 international visitors who spent about R6bn.
These numbers demonstrate that tourism is far more than a leisure activity.
For the Eastern Cape, tourism is an important economic lifeline, supporting accommodation establishments, restaurants, transport operators, tour guides, cultural enterprises, events, craft markets and countless small businesses.
From the Wild Coast and Addo Elephant National Park to the cultural heritage of Mthatha, KuGompo City and Gqeberha, the province has enormous potential to use tourism as a vehicle for inclusive economic growth.
Yet, amid the growing national debate around the March and March movement and undocumented migration, an important question deserves greater attention.
Could some of the methods used to address illegal immigration unintentionally damage one of the sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs in the Eastern Cape?
The concerns driving the March and March movement cannot simply be dismissed.
SA faces extremely high unemployment, and many young people, including graduates in tourism, hospitality and business, struggle to find meaningful employment.
Where employers knowingly employ undocumented workers while suitably qualified South Africans remain unemployed, there must be accountability.
SA has laws regulating immigration and employment, and those laws must be enforced.
However, enforcement matters as much as the principle of enforcement.
Tourism is an industry built on people and experiences.
Hotels, restaurants, guesthouses, conference venues, attractions and tour operators depend on employees who interact directly with visitors.
Service quality, professionalism, cultural understanding and a welcoming environment are central to the visitor experience.
This makes the current climate particularly sensitive.
The Eastern Cape has spent years positioning itself as a destination characterised by natural beauty, cultural richness and warm hospitality.
If visitors begin to associate particular tourism destinations with protests, confrontation, hostility, or uncertainty, the consequences could extend well beyond the businesses directly involved.
Tourists have choices. International visitors can choose alternative destinations, while domestic tourists can simply travel elsewhere.
Investors also have choices.
This does not mean that businesses should be allowed to employ undocumented migrants with impunity. Quite the opposite.
Employers who knowingly violate immigration and labour laws should be held accountable.
Labour inspectors and immigration authorities must have the capacity to identify violations and take appropriate action.
The responsibility for enforcing immigration law should, however, remain with the institutions legally mandated to do so.
A broad campaign against foreign nationals can also create a dangerous distinction between undocumented migrants, lawful foreign workers and South African citizens.
Some tourism and hospitality businesses employ foreign nationals legally because they possess particular skills, international experience or specialised knowledge.
In certain circumstances, these employees can contribute to service standards while transferring knowledge and skills to South African workers.
The objective should therefore not be to choose between South Africans and foreign nationals.
The objective should be to build a tourism industry that prioritises South African employment while complying fully with the law.
This requires investment in skills development.
Our universities, TVET colleges, and private training institutions are producing graduates eager to enter the tourism and hospitality sector.
The missing link is often not education, but the transition from education into employment.
We need more structured internships, apprenticeships, workplace-based learning, mentorship programmes and partnerships between educational institutions and tourism businesses.
Every unemployed hospitality graduate represents skills that are not being fully used in the economy.
The economic argument for protecting and expanding tourism is compelling.
According to Statistics South Africa’s Tourism Satellite Account, tourism directly supported about 954,000 jobs nationally in 2024, accounting for about 5.7% of total employment.
Tourism also contributed 4.9% to SA’s GDP.
For a province such as the Eastern Cape, which continues to confront severe unemployment and poverty, these numbers should not be taken lightly.
Every tourist who visits the province contributes to an economic chain that extends far beyond a hotel room.
The visitor may use local transport, eat at a restaurant, purchase a craft product, visit a cultural attraction, employ a tour guide, or attend an event.
Tourism spending circulates through communities and creates opportunities for small businesses.
This is why immigration cannot be separated from economic development.
SA has every right to protect its borders, enforce immigration legislation and ensure that employers comply with labour laws.
At the same time, enforcement must be implemented in a manner that protects social stability, investor confidence and the country’s reputation as a tourism destination.
The Eastern Cape now faces an important choice.
We can build on our tourism assets, strengthen the skills of our young people, attract more visitors and create an environment in which tourism businesses can grow and employ more South Africans.
Or we can allow confrontation and uncertainty to damage the reputation of an industry that has the potential to employ thousands more people.
The March and March movement has placed legitimate concerns about undocumented migration and employment firmly on the national agenda.
Those concerns deserve serious attention. But the solution cannot be allowed to create another economic problem.
The Eastern Cape should be demanding stronger immigration enforcement and stronger tourism development.
It should require employers to comply with the law and create more opportunities for local graduates.
It should protect South African workers without undermining the businesses and industries that create employment for them.
Our tourism industry should be a bridge to employment, not another casualty of a deeply polarised national debate.
Protecting South African jobs must also mean protecting the industries that create them.
Dr Adelaide Pitso is a lecturer in tourism, hospitality and sport management at iYunivesithi Walter Sisulu
Daily Dispatch
