/ 6 March 2017

A tourist haven

Bokone Bophirima’s government is doing more to spread development over the province. Photo courtesy SA Tourism
Bokone Bophirima’s government is doing more to spread development over the province. Photo courtesy SA Tourism

Bokone Bophririma aims to become one of the top three most visited provinces in the country. The province hopes to capitalise on its proximity to Gauteng, the largest supplier of domestic tourism and international gateway through the OR Tambo International airport, as well as its own history and natural beauty to attract and retain both domestic and foreign tourists. At his recent State of the Province Address, delivered in Taung last Friday, premier Supra Mahumapelo outlined what the province is doing to boost its appeal to tourists.

“The focus of our agenda going forward will be anchored on building efficiencies in the sector, improving our tourism marketing efforts, strengthening tourism infrastructure in VTSD areas, building strong regulatory regime, partnering with bodies responsible for capacity development in the sector and aggressively attracting investment into the tourism sector,” said Mahumapelo.

Mahumapelo added that the success of the province in attracting tourists will be largely dependent on security, stability, cleanliness, friendliness and improving its transport and road infrastructure.

One way of improving efficiency in the sector has been to increase the number of graded establishments that offer accommodation. One such facility is the tranquil Uurpan lodge in Schweizer Reneke. With grazing buffalo and various types of bucks, the lodge got its four star grading last year, almost four years after opening its doors.

Its owner, Pieter Van Zyl, says the area has huge tourism for its location on the diamond mining route on the way to Kimberley, but can also serve as a halfway station for people heading to areas like the Taung Dam, as Taung currently has limited accommodation.

Van Zyl, who is also a maize farmer relieved by the return of the rains, says he would like to see post-matric training institutions in the area offer specialist training geared towards the agriculture and hospitality industries. He says he currently battles to recruit trained waiters, chefs and customer-facing workers for the lodge.

In his address, Mahumapelo says tourism is offered by 95 out of the 399 secondary schools in the province, while 161 schools are offering agriculture science, six of them include agricultural technology and 10 agricultural management practice. The challenge is to move the training beyond matric. The premier also announced plans to expand the youth hospitality learnerhip programme and establish hotel schools in Bojanala and Dr Kenneth Kaunda districts.

Mahumapelo says the department of tourism will soon update the government and the public on the provincial Villages Townships and Small Dorpie Tourism Action Plan, which he says all in the province should support.

Mahumapelo says the province aims to work with national government and the government of Botswana to declare heritage sites where the first conference of the ANC in exile was held in Botswana heritage sites.

The government aims to build monuments and package of stories of freedom fighters who passed through our Province into Botswana. One such sight is a Capture site to be built in Groot Marico, where President Jacob Zuma was arrested in the early 1960s.

Bokone Bophirima province boasts the tourist mecca of Sun City, but also offers so much more. Within easy reach of Gauteng, there is the Hartebeespoort Dam and the Magaliesberg Mountains to cater for water sports and outdoor enthusiasts; the Madikwe Game lodge, a conservation oasis that rose out of degraded farmland; the Pilanesberg reserve near Sun City; the Taung heritage route and the Lesedi Cultural village.

According to the North West Development Corporation, tourism sustains about 33 000 jobs in the province, and in 2015 tourism contributed 4.7% to the Bokone Bophirima provincial GDP at current prices.