Current Edition >> Archives Section >> Leading Stories >> 1-15 June 2005

Signs point to looming tourism boom in central South Africa

Several events of late clearly point to the fact that a boom in the tourism industry in the central region of South Africa might be on the cards. Although tourism is relatively one of the smaller contributors to the economy of the Free State, developments such as the following are indicative that not only the province, but also the central region of the sub-continent, can prepare itself for a ground swell :

• The advanced stage which the four-year old Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Project with its six regional partners, viz the Free State Dept. of Tourism, Environmental & Economic Affairs, Tourism KZN, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the Lesotho Tourism Corporation, SAN Parks and the Eastern Cape Tourism Board, has now reached. Tourism in this region is likely to trigger tangible socio-economic development for its 2 million inhabitants.

• The tri-provincial roll-out of the Lake !Gariep Tourism Route around the largest dam in Southern Africa is coming on stream and it could be poised on the brink of becoming a sought-after tourism destination in its own right.

• The well-endowed Aldam Resort near Venterburg has just been bought over and upgraded by the successful hospitality company, Venue Experts Africa. Renamed to Aldam Estate, the upgraded resort could inject new life into leisure and conferencing tourism in the central Free State.

• The Vredefort Dome Area between Vredefort, Parys and southern North West province, declared in July 2005 as a World Heritage Site, is also poised to become an international tourist destination of its own, especially with the development of adventure tourism. The tourism potential of this project has evidently only been scratched on the surface.

• The expected declaration soon of Clarens in the Eastern Free State as the first officially recognized Proudly South African town in SA – with the town already an established popular tourist attraction.

• The planned Lizard Point world class multi-sporting estate to be developed on the Free State banks of the Vaal Dam between Deneysville and Oranjeville at an eventual total cost of some R4 billion. It is said that this project will be bigger than Sun City.

• Two mega convention centres for Bloemfontein are in the pipeline – one west of the city and the other on the eastern side on the Thaba Nchu road. Spokespersons for each of these centres are indicating that their plans are on the same scale as e.g. the Durban, Sandton and Cape Town International Convention Centres. If these come to fruition, it could impact significantly on the local economy.

• The Mangaung Municipality is forging ahead with the partnership development of the N8 tourism route stretching from Lesotho via Ladybrand, Thaba Nchu, Botshabelo and Bloemfontein / Mangaung to Kimberley.

• In adjacent North West province it has been announced that the province's entire marketing drive is being restructured to include a business tourism portfolio into the already adopted “3G” concept of Golf, Gig and Game.

These are merely a random selection of the current bigger tourism developments in the region – it is being backed by a host of smaller, but also significant, relevant developments. As such it encompasses leisure, business and sports tourism. There can therefore be no doubt that tourism in central South Africa is on the up, offering tremendous developmental opportunities and benefits.
The negative side of things is the lack of planning, coordination and direction on government level, especially in the Free State. Twice during the past seven years a Free State tourism authority has been established and twice it failed dismally. The third one was inaugurated last year, but so far little if anything has been publicly seen of it.
The other vexing question is whether there exists sufficient cooperation and synergy between the governmental and private sector in central SA to make sense out of the highly promising emerging tourism potential. Can this potential be truly harnessed to bring about the socio-economic development and upliftment it is potentially able to do?
The inevitable conclusion is thus that while tourism in central SA is certainly exuding exciting prospects, the industry is also at the crossroads as regards realizing its true potential.