MC Kenetswe Mosenogi urges communities to explore the North West Province during Tourism Month
MEC Mosenogi urges communities to explore the beauty of the North West Province
“North West Province has very diverse tourism attractions that have the potential to meet various traveller’s needs,” said MEC for Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, Kenetswe Mosenogi during the official launch of the 2021 Tourism Month Programme at Wentzel dam, Schweizer-Reneke. The launch was held under the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) theme “Tourism for Inclusive Growth”.
According to the MEC, the tourism industry has a potential to stimulate inclusive economic activity, create employment opportunities and alleviate poverty while displaying the beauty of the province. “We want to focus in highlighting the contribution made by tourism sector into the local economy. We intend to encourage young people to utilise opportunities available within the tourism industry and instil a culture of travelling amongst South Africans”, said Mosenogi.
Wentzel Dam was chosen as it is a key attraction in the small town of Schweizer Reneke to expose and market it as an adventure tourist attraction, with a water body that accommodates angling and a number of water sports, such as water rafting, boat cruising, kayaking, canoeing to name just a few.
MEC added that we need to make effort to understand the needs of tourists, so that we can create tourism products that meet their needs. As government we need to ensure that our tourism attractions and activities adhere to the Covid 19 health and safety protocols. Our tourism packages that we develop should include promotions local history, culture and wild life activities.
MEC also announced that the department together with its agencies, North West Tourism Board and North West Parks Board will embark on a series of tourism events that includes stakeholder engagement sessions with tourism products owners to solicit inputs for the North West Destination Marketing Strategy which seeks to come up with ideal initiatives that would see the sector becoming fully operational.
The programme will further include social tourism programme, cultural tourism seminar and tourism awareness walk.
The department will also use the tourism month to advocate for COVID 19 Vaccination. This will consequently amplify government’s campaign to encourage citizens to vaccinate, although targeting the tourism and hospitality sector/players. It is for this reason that the department has partnered with the Department of Health in this initiative towards achieving the provincial target of vaccinating 2.1 million population by February 2022. These we do mainly because tourism industry is one of the hardest hit sectors of the economy. This scenario, necessitates a call to action on our part to assist travel and tourism to take place within the confines of the COVID 19 protocols.
Lastly, the MEC emphasised that travel and tourism within the province should create economic opportunities at every stage of the tourism value chain.
Source: Government of South Africa