JOHANNESBURG: South Africa will host the first meeting of G20 tourism ministers in February as part of the global response to unprecedented economic changes, South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Friday.

"I can today announce that this meeting will take place from 22 to 24 February 2010 in Gauteng under the theme travel and tourism: stimuli for G20 economies," he said in a speech at the 8th annual tourism conference at Emperor's Palace, Gauteng.

Van Schalkwyk said the G20 had played a central role in discussing the strengthening of economic co-operation on a range of issues affecting the global economy.

"Though not immune to the global economic downturn, tourism has so far resisted the financial crisis better than many other sectors, such as construction, real estate and car manufacturing," the South African Press Association cited the minister as saying.

Foreign direct spend grew by 23.4 percent from 60.1 billion rand ($7.5 billion) in 2007, to 74.2 billion rand in 2008.

"Total revenue generated by tourism in 2008 also showed an excellent growth rate of 23.5 percent," he said.

But, he warned that the global volatility means that numbers for 2009 are bound to reflect international trends that put the trade under pressure, making a co-ordinated response important.

South Africa was also elected to the executive council of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in Kazakhstan earlier in October and would use the position to advance Africa's development agenda.

The UNWTO "Roadmap to Recovery" recognised that tourism was one of the world's top job creators, providing 75 million direct jobs worldwide and that it drove the viability of many small and medium enterprises.

Van Schalkwyk also said the department would, in co-operation with the department of sport, host a UNWTO/South Africa Summit on Tourism, Sport and Mega-events from February 24 to 26 in Sandton, Johannesburg.

This would provide a forum to consider the impact of mega- events and would help the country plan for after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.