Issues, challenges and contributions of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in South African economy

Abstract

Cultural and Creative industries (CCIs) sector have high recognition on the South African government’s development agenda. Yet, the contribution of the sector to the economy appears to be extremely low in comparison to its counterparts in the developed world. The objective of this study is to assess the extent to which the CCIs in South Africa are contributing towards economic development through their foreign exchange earnings and employment outlines. This research is concerned with one research question, how important is, CCIs to generate foreign exchange earnings and job creation in South Africa? The study discusses on the challenges and issues for the sector underperformance. The authors argued that it is important for the South African government to promptly harness and exploit the CCIs in a way that it delivers the full potential benefits associated with it. The results confirm that cultural and creative industries are very crucial and contribute positively to the South African economy through foreign exchange earnings and job creation.