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The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Fish Mahlalela, on Wednesday, wrapped up his two-day visit to KwaZulu-Natal with a visit to Ilembe District.

During the two-day visit, the deputy minister engaged with various stakeholders within the tourism sector. These included the representatives of Community Tourism Organisations, Tour Operators, Tour Guides, Hospitality industry, Women in Tourism and businesspeople operating within the Tourism value chain.

The programme is part of the nationwide domestic tourism activation campaign being undertaken by the Department of Tourism. The campaign is aimed at encouraging South Africans to travel and experience the scenic beauty of their own country within the confines of the Covid 19 regulations and Health protocols. The campaign recognizes that the boost in domestic tourism will offset the sharp decline in international travel market.

The visit kicked off with a visit to the uMkhanyakude District, in the area of uMhlabuyalingana on Tuesday the 20th April 2021.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela was accompanied by the KwaZulu Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mr Ravi Pillay and Local Government leadership as they visited various sites in the district.

These included the Nhlange Lake, Kosi Bay Lodge and Utshwayelo lodge.

The Deputy Minister also used the opportunity to engage with various tourism industries as part of assessing the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector as a whole.

During the engagements beneficiaries of the tourism relief fund spoke of how the relief funding had helped to rescue their businesses.

The engagements also focused on transformation of the tourism sector as a whole with a view to rapidly improve on the pace of transformation in the tourism sector in relation to ownership and control.

“The sector must not recover to what it was before Covid-19 but it must also be transformed. When you look at the tourism sector about 60 to 70% of the labour force are women. But when it comes to management, women are nowhere to be found. This is a world-wide phenomenon but in South Africa it is worse,” said Deputy Minister Mahlalela.

The visit on Wednesday the 21st April 2021 proceeded  to iLembe District, KwaDukuza area, starting with the Stakeholder Engagements and sites visits which included Luthuli Museum in Groutville and a visit to the Fairmont Zimbali Hotel which went under business rescue last year.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela was satisfied with the progress made so far by the provincial and Local spheres of government in assisting the sector to navigate through this trying times of the Pandemic, of which tourism is the most hardest hit, and committed the Department of tourism in partnership with the Provincial and local governments to address all the challenges raised and come back in the near future to reflect on progress made.

Issued by The National Department of Tourism