29 August 08

By Keotshepile wa Mogotsi

SINCE the dawn of democracy in 1994, the tourism industry has grown enormously, “but we still remain poor [despite having] natural beauty”. This was a concern raised by Deputy Minister of Environment Affairs and Tourism Joyce Mabhudafasi at the launch of Tourism@Work.

The initiative was launched recently at the conference centre at Silverstar Casino. It was attended by local political leaders, business men and women, and government officials. Mabhudafasi said that people - especially rural people - remained poor because they lacked access to information that would open opportunities, such as Tourism@Work.

However, she applauded Mogale City for launching the programme which would bring on board women and young people in the tourism industry. “It is very humbling to learn that Tourism@Work has already invested a lot of money and I have been assured that unemployed women and young people will be the key beneficiaries to this programme.

“I want to reiterate that the government or the public sector cannot be successful if they are working alone.”

The programme focuses on opening various opportunities to all tourism operations and operators, by making tourism accessible and available to all communities. It is an online application that gives clients access to information regarding accommodation, transport, service providers, attractions and places of interest.

Barry Friedman, the portfolio head of local economic development, unwrapped it as an ability to unlock the second economy in tourism.

In his address, Mogale City Executive mayor Calvin Seerane said as a municipality, Mogale City had always declared that partnerships were a necessary and crucial part of its winning formula. We are therefore pleased to welcome Tourism@Work into our panel of distinguished partners. We are particularly pleased that Deputy Minister Mabhudafasi saw fit to align herself with us in this initiative. We are incredibly proud to be chosen for such an initiative.

“Tourism can generate much-needed revenue for local and regional economies, increase local awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation, and provide new incentives for governments and dwellers in and around appealing natural areas to preserve them,” Seerane said.

In his State of the City address of 4 April, Seerane said the City had engaged a number of entities in its drive to achieve local economic development objectives. These included the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller on establishing training interventions; the Gauteng Tourism Authority on the launch of the Mogale City Tourism Advisory Council, which was successfully launched earlier this year; and Tourism@Work to develop information and communication technology infrastructure in the industry for the benefit of the domestic tourism market.

Mogale City regards the promotion of tourism as one of its chief priorities.

It is expected that the project will provide entrepreneurs in the second economy with a mechanism to access the tourism market. There will also be centres around the city that will train people who are eager to work in the industry and those who want to own tourism businesses.

According to the chief operating officer of Tourism@Work, Kobus Botha, the Ubuntu Recreation Centre at Ga-Mohale in Magaliesburg is earmarked as the first centre. “Community centres play a very important role in rolling out and implementation of Tourism@Work, social investment projects and programmes,” Botha said.

Mogale City was approached by the national office of Tourism@Work nine months ago with a plan for the municipality to pilot the national project. For more information on Mogale City’s Tourism@Work, contact the council’s tourism office on 011 668 0675.