Deputy Tourism Minister Fish Mahlalela says the rural tourism sector has the potential to help grow the national economy. Mahlalela has visited Refilwe township, outside Cullinan in Pretoria, as part of promoting domestic tourism.
Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane is expected to officially launch tourism month in Pretoria on Monday.
Provincial travel has been opened under Level 2 of the coronavirus lockdown and there are hopes that this will assist a sector devastated by earlier travel restrictions.
Mahlalela says rural tourism has great potential.
“Tourism has got the key potential of developing and creating job opportunities for people living in the rural areas. This is because most of the tourist attractions are located in the rural areas and therefore we want to use this next month to say, how do we leverage tourism to be able then to create job opportunities for people in the rural areas, how do we leverage tourism to create infrastructure for people in the rural areas?”
Meanwhile, the extended lockdown has been hard on the travel and Tourism sector. The restrictions on interprovincial travel dented recovery plans. This has been exacerbated by the continued closure of the country’s borders as a result of the deadly coronavirus that’s already claimed more than 10 000 lives in South Africa. It’s meant no revenue for the sector from international travellers.
In the video below, Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane briefs the media on Level 2 tourism-related activities:
