Special Sustainable Tourism for Development Award
“One of the key things I do is determine how tourism makes a contribution to people’s lives and to the broader community — how does tourism impact on poverty in South Africa and in Africa?” says Saayman.

Which export sector is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing, contributes to 10% of global GDP, and accounts for one in 11 jobs worldwide? You may be surprised to discover that it’s tourism.

(Statistics from the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization.) Sustainable tourism crosses over into many science-related fields (from the green economy to environmental protection) and tourism is a research field in its own right. Prof Melville Saayman is research director of Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society (Trees) at North West University (NWU). His research areas look at tourism economics and management. (Read more about him in the Mail & Guardian article. Mail & Guardian is an NSTF media partner.)