Sho’t left for Limpopo wonders

Desmond Boshego

LIMPOPO – Limpopo will this year play host to World Tourism Day celebrations, which are billed to take place in the Kruger National Park (KNP) this month.

This was announced by Seaparo Sekoati, Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (Ledet) MEC, during the launch of Tourism Month at the Hat and Creek near Hoedspruit last Tuesday.

Ledet, in partnership with the Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA), was thereafter accompanied by the media on a tour to explore some of the tourist attractions in various parts of the province.

During the tour, which was themed: A million experiences are a sho’t left away, Sekoati said the tourism sector has been the most resilient during the economic downturn over the years and they are confident that it will continue to create much-needed jobs despite the bleak economic situation in the country.

“Tourism is everyone’s business and we encourage all the people in this province to take part by touring various areas and the province’s parks that are found all over the province.

“Having more tourism sites in our province and a huge number of tourists from the neighbouring provinces and the other continents have moved the province from position four to position one when it comes to tourism in the country and this really means that we should take care of our tourism and heritage sites,” Sekoati said.

“We need to work together as a government and make sure young people receive the relevant training so they can enter the tourism sector,” he said.

He explained that having the opportunity of being the hosts of the 2015 Tourism Month should be marked as a legacy to this province.

“With this opportunity we must showcase every beautiful and wondrous site we have in our province, especially to our foreign tourists. This will greatly benefit the tourism industry in our province and South Africa at large,” he added.

Andrew Dipela, LTA Chairperson, said such opportunities should be acknowledged, used and appreciated as the province will benefit a lot in terms of business.

“Having well-known parks like the KNP, of which 70% is in our province, is one of the advantages we should use to benefit from the tourism industry. As a province, we aim to develop a plan, and an organisational design best suited to carry out the strategy, which will be budgeted for the province.

“It is fantastic to play host Tourism Month, especially while we are celebrating our Heritage Month,” concluded Dipela.