Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma says tourism is a key driver of economic growth and has a huge potential to create jobs after the devastating recession.
"Tourism holds huge potential as a sector for job creation as both a driver of infrastructure investment and a beneficiary of large scale public infrastructure investment."
Zuma said as the world emerged from a global economic downturn, the time had come for the rebuilding and reigniting of the economy as well as the travel and tourism sectors.
Zuma was addressing the two-day international summit on tourism, sports and mega-events in Sandton on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by tourism ministers and representatives from across the world. It was called to discuss ways of using tourism and sports to benefit countries of the world.
Zuma said South Africa was not just preparing to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but to also build the country.
"Our vision, however, was to build more than stadia, roads and airports. Our vision was to build our legacy as champions."
