“Local Tourism should be the starting point on our way to developing bigger plans to attract international tourists in marketing destination North West”.
Thus is according to MEC for Tourism in the North West Desbo Mohono, after the two day Local Government Tourism Conference in Gauteng. According to Mohono the North West province is rich in Agriculture, culture, and other tourism products that could be explored during this Easter by Holiday makers.
“As a Department we want to urge and encourage the people of the North West to visit places they have never been to in the province. We have heritage sites that we know that most of the people who visit those sites are people from outside the province. Our intention is to ensure that our people know and advocate the wonders of this province in other provinces and the world. We may not have the beaches, but we have the big five and rich culture to be explored,” said MEC Mohono.
“We will continue to engage with our local authorities including our traditional councils. That approach will assist in carrying our objective of going back to basics, as most of our tourism products are based within municipalities. The relations between us and the municipalities will have to be further strengthened and also encourage them to include tourism issues on their Integrated Development Plans and Budget. In that way we will be sure that locals will harvest from tourism products,” said Mohono.
MEC Mohono said that her department will start profiling small dorpies which most have rich history. She said that small towns like Groot Marico, Ventersdorp and others have a rich cultural back ground and can be of great interest to most tourists.
“We need to increase Tourism Infrastructure Investment to grow the Tourism Economy. This includes the provision of roads, ICT, energy and water infrastructure,” she said.
MEC Mohono called on the people of the North West to take the Short Left and visit local products.
Enquiries:
Dineo Lolokwane
Spokesperson
Cell: 072 542 8444
Tel: 018 388 2081
Email: dlolokwane@nwpg.gov.za
