National government has come out strongly in favour of leveraging tourism as a means of promoting social development in this country.
The government’s New Growth Path economic strategy released last month anticipates that new initiatives in the tourism sector will result in the creation of a quarter of a million jobs.
National government has come out strongly in favour of leveraging tourism as a means of promoting social development in this country.
The government’s New Growth Path economic strategy released last month anticipates that new initiatives in the tourism sector will result in the creation of a quarter of a million jobs.
On the local front, municipal authorities and local businesses already place great store in the potential of tourism. Makana municipality, for its part, is training young tour guides.
It has also recently released a brand-new DVD, aimed at promoting tourism in the municipal area, and it has actively supported local edutourism initiatives. This is all very good news, because internationally the tourism sector has a reputation for being able to create jobs without requiring massive increases in capital expenditure and without damaging the environment.
If we can attract more foreign visitors to our shores to see the beautiful sites and interesting historical places, this would be wonderful, because it would create real job opportunities. The problem is that we do not make any attempt to make foreign guests comfortable.
Our attitude, as South Africans, and more specifically as Grahamstonians is wrong – and this is the main obstacle to building a thriving tourism sector in this country.
All the DVDs and travel indabas will not help transform this country into a tourist magnet until we, as a nation, learn how to treat foreigners.
When a young German tourist comes here and gets raped it does far more damage to this country’s image than a million DVDs can repair.
Foreign tourists perceive this country as a high-risk destination and until this perception is changed, the tourism industry will not come close to its full potential.
If we are serious about building a long-term viable tourism industry, we should teach our citizens to be friendly to all visitors, and then soon, when more of us have jobs, we might even be friendly towards each other.
