The consolidation of efforts made in positioning the North West province as preferred destination of choice took a giant leap in the right direction when the North West Department of Tourism convened a two day provincial tourism lekgotla at Mphebatho Cultural Museum in Moruleng. The purpose of the Lekgotla was to garner support and forge partnerships which will assist in sustaining tourism growth in the province.
Tourism North West MEC for Tourism, Desbo Mohono said that in order for the department to position the province as preferred destination of choice, the department will have to create an enabling environment for fruitful partnerships. “We want to put our emphasis as government, that are prepared to partner with traditional authorities, private sector and even public sector entities. These partnerships will help in fast pacing the growth in our tourism economy,” she said.
MEC Mohono went further and aligned herself with Premier Mahumapelo’s recent pronouncement on prioritising tourism within our rural areas. “The Bojanala eco-tourism city will soon be in full swing and this will drastically improve the livelihood of our people in affected villages. It will augur well in addressing social illnesses which includes unemployment poverty and education, especially for the youth.
The Acting Head of Department, Charles Ndabeni said that one of the challenges the tourism fraternity is faced with is infrastructural development in villages, townships and small dorpies.
“There is a dire need to develop the current infrastructure in order to grow the tourism economy. We need to improve our roads, technology and communication infrastructure in villages, townships and small dorpies. This will allow for economic growth and our tourism product owners will be able to package products properly and ensure sufficient tourism traffic in our villages, townships and small dorpies,” he said.
Echoing his sentiments, Nawaal Motlekar of Kwenta Media highlighted the importance of product branding and marketing. She said that no matter how wonderful your tourism products are, they won’t attract the necessary tourism traffic if there is no proper marketing of those products.
“Tourism product owners in the North West need to start exploring various platforms of marketing, branding and promoting their products. It doesn’t matter how small or big your product is, you need put in quite a substantial amount of marketing in order to promote your product,” she said.
For further enquiries:
Dineo Lolokwane
Tel: 018 388 2081
Cell: 072 542 8444
E-mail: dlolokwane@nwpg.gov.za
