By In a bid to turn South Africa’s tourism potential into scalable, private-sector-backed capital projects, Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille and Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson have signed a strategic Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).
The three-year deal establishes a structured partnership between the Department of Tourism and Infrastructure South Africa (ISA)—a programmatic delivery unit situated within the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI). Under the terms of the agreement, ISA will deploy specialized resources, including transaction advisory services and financial structure expertise, directly to the Department of Tourism to build out a pipeline of investor-ready tourism projects.
The announcement directly aligns with broader macroeconomic objectives outlined under Phase Three of the Government-Business Partnership, launched recently by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which highlights tourism as a primary sector for accelerating employment and inclusive gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
Addressing Technical Bottlenecks
Historically, state-backed infrastructure portfolios across South Africa have suffered from execution lags, frequently caused by insufficient project preparation and a shortage of specialist transaction advisory capabilities within line-function departments.
By leveraging ISA’s centralized infrastructure planning and delivery mechanisms, the Department of Tourism aims to bridge this technical gap. While the Department of Tourism retains overall ownership and governance over its Investment Facilitation Service, ISA will manage the technical scaffolding necessary to evaluate risk, structure public-private financing models, and de-risk early-stage project pipelines.
“Tourism policy is economic policy,” Minister de Lille noted in statement detailing the deal. “If we want tourism to make an even greater contribution to economic growth and job creation, we must build the infrastructure that makes investment and new tourism experiences possible. We must turn tourism potential into bankable projects, investment, and ultimately jobs.”
Beyond project delivery, the MoA embeds a long-term skills and technical competency transfer mechanism designed to enhance internal capacity within the Department of Tourism over the three-year duration.
Infrastructure as a Growth Catalyst
For DPWI Minister Dean Macpherson, the collaboration serves as another milestone in the ministry’s stated strategy to leverage public infrastructure assets as a engine for broader macroeconomic expansion.
“Through this partnership, we can help move priority tourism infrastructure projects from plans on paper to shovels in the ground, while crowding in private sector investment and creating new economic opportunities across the country,” Macpherson stated.
Ahead of September Investment Summit
The announcement comes precisely a month before the Department of Tourism convenes the second annual Tourism Infrastructure Investment Summit, scheduled for 30 September to 1 October 2026 in Gauteng.
Building on the foundation laid during the inaugural 2025 gathering, the upcoming summit aims to convene project promoters, commercial banks, development finance institutions (DFIs), and institutional investors. The integration of ISA’s advisory oversight is expected to bolster the credibility of the pipeline presented to private capital providers during the two-day summit.
