Speaker

Patricia De Lille

Minister of Tourism
Republic of South Africa

Patricia De Lille served as the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) from June 2019 to March 2023 where she drove the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment Plan, repurposing government’s assets for greater socio-economic value, clamping down on corruption and ensuring that public land and public buildings are used for public good. De Lille was appointed as the Minister of Tourism by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March 2023 and reappointed following South Africa’s national elections in May 2024. De Lille is a seasoned politician and public servant having has served in all three spheres of government since South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994. De Lille has been fighting injustice for more than 45 years and was part of the team which led the Constitutional Negotiations and part of the team which drafted South Africa’s Constitution. She is the only South African female politician to start her own political parties and win seats in all three spheres of government. De Lille achieved this feat twice, in 2003 with the Independent Democrats and in 2019 with the GOOD Movement. De Lille served as the Mayor of Cape Town between 2011 and 2018 where accountability and clean governance were the cornerstones of her term. In her role as the Minister of Tourism, De Lille has focussed efforts on enhanced destination marketing, addressing barriers to tourism growth, increasing air access and visitor numbers to South Africa, empowering emerging tourism enterprises and various efforts to increase the tourism sector’s contribution to economic growth and job creation. Her leadership has consistently been recognised on the global stage as Minister de Lille was elected as the First Vice Chair of the United Nations Tourism Executive Council in November 2024 and in March 2025, she was awarded “Tourism Minister of the Year – Governance – Infrastructure Development” by the Pacific Area Travel Writers’ Association (PATWA) at the ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show.