By Nangamso Mabindla
16 September 2005

A TOURISM awareness road show was held to promote tourism in the city's most underprivileged areas. It was undertaken by Buffalo City Municipality and its partners as part of Tourism Month.

On the itinerary were Dimbaza, Mdantsane, Duncan Village and Bhisho, where communities were informed about the importance of tourism and the role each community could play in promoting the industry.

Speakers from the City's local economic development unit, the provincial department of labour, Eastern Cape Tourism and the House of Traditional Leaders talked about programmes aimed at promoting tourism awareness.

Crafts on display during the roadshow

Speaking in Duncan Village on Thursday, 15 September, Councillor Luntu Bobo said another aim of the road show was to invite communities to participate in tourism. "We want people to feel that they are part of this important industry.

"We have places like Mdantsane, Dimbaza, Duncan Village and Bhisho; these places have a rich history."

Bobo said international tourists often visited these areas to learn about their rich history. Despite this, the locals did not understand the value of having international tourists in their areas.

"This, then, becomes a wasted opportunity. We need to have bed and breakfasts in these areas so that some of these tourists can spend the night there and experience the things they learn about our townships and rural areas."

The City also wanted to involve all communities in developing tourism.

"We have just completed a needs analysis on arts and crafts. We wanted to find out the needs of people trading in arts and crafts. We will then do another analysis on small, medium and micro enterprise development, accommodation and other sectors in tourism," Bobo said.

Nikiwe Ngubane, from the provincial department of labour, said it was focusing on skills development to promote tourism. "We have programmes that aim to train our people in ways that they can use their skills to benefit from tourism."

Joyce Kelele, from the Community Tourism Organisation, said the group was focusing on developing tourism in five areas, namely crafts, accommodation, infrastructure, travel agencies and performing arts.

"This will help us organise our people under one organisation so that we are able to work hand-in-hand with the City and the private sector. If we work in unison as communities it will be easier for these institutions to fund us," she said.