There is more wildlife in South Africa than there was 50 or 60 years ago. This again created an economic stimulus in these rural areas. This all adds up to infrastructure development in rural areas.
Recent research conducted from one of my PhD students found that the average spend by product owners on infrastructure is just over R7 million (US$ 490 000), with some even spending up to R30 million (US$ 2.1 million). To transform the land for hunting purposes required spending on new infrastructure, including for example accommodation, staff accommodation, cooling rooms, slaughtering facilities and meat processing facilities. Most of the land used for hunting in South Africa was originally farmland used for crops, cattle and other farming activities.
#SOUTH AFRICA HUNTING PROFESSIONAL#
Typical employment created directly includes guides, professional hunters, skinners, trackers, catering, housekeeping, maintenance, conservation management, anti-poaching and taxidermy, to name a few.
#SOUTH AFRICA HUNTING FREE#
Research conducted in three of the top hunting provinces – the Northern Cape, Free State and Limpopo provinces – showed hunting created 31 500 jobs in the three provinces – 17 806 in Limpopo, 9 072 in the Northern Cape and 4 558 in the Free State. In addition, hunting creates jobs, particularly in rural areas where employment is most needed. What makes the spending of hunters so important is that hunting mainly occurs in rural areas, which are in dire need of job creation and economic development. When multiplied with the number of frequent biltong hunters in South Africa (200 000), it totals R11.66 billion. This includes the accommodation, game hunted and in some cases also the trophy handling and processing.įor their part, biltong hunters spent on average R58 000 ($4 000) per season. Our calculations also show that between 70% and 80% of trophy hunters’ spending takes place in the area of the hunt. Based on these numbers we calculated that trophy hunting contributed close to R2 billion ($130 880 815.00) to the South African economy.
Their trips lasted, on average, 12 days, and on average they spent R262 000 (US$20 000) per trip. What’s spent and whereĪn estimated 7600 trophy hunters visited South Africa in 2016. We are still in the process of publishing this data. If one would like to determine the economic impact of hunting one also needs to determine the indirect and induced impact. Non-consumptive wildlife tourism refers to bird watching, game viewing (safari’s) and trails, to name a few.īy our calculations trophy and biltong hunters contribute a combined R13.6 billion ($909 million) to the South African economy in 2016/2017 season. The research found that hunters (consumptive wildlife tourist) spend double and more the amount than non-consumptive wildlife tourists. We looked at two main groups of hunters: international hunters, also referred to as the trophy hunters almost all of whom are foreigners, and local hunters, known locally as the biltong hunters who hunt for meat (Biltong is a local dried meat similar to jerky). This is a particularly important question given the poverty challenges facing the country.įrom our research, conducted in South Africa, we established that hunting contributes immensely to economic development.
The North West University’s Tourism Research in Economic, Environs and Society unit, which I’m a part of, set out to establish what financial contribution hunting makes. But it also has its supporters, some of whom argue that hunting, in particular, is a valuable source of income and that it contributes to conservation of wildlife, that can be used to protect threatened species and be put to other good uses.Īfrica remains one of the most sought after destinations for hunters. The hunting of wild animals is an emotive issue, drawing fire from anti-hunting organisations, environmentalists as well as many ordinary citizens.
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