Following community protests and the closure of the Numbi Gate entrance into the Kruger National Park (KNP) in 2018, the Department of Tourism held stakeholder engagements in the area where one of the outcomes was for the Department would plan for and invest in community owned tourism projects around Numbi Gate.
Currently, the Department is providing funding support for the implementation of the Mdluli Cultural Centre project which is around R 29.8million, after further discussions and agreement with the communities around the Numbi Gate.
Recently, the Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille recently did an oversight to look at the status of this important community tourism project.
“Our domestic tourism, the bedrock of this sector, has already surpassed pre-COVID numbers and we are determined to grow arrivals even more that will support further economic growth and job creation.”
“A key part of our strategy is to invest in establishments so that we constantly diversify our tourism offerings. The Kruger National Park is an iconic South African attraction, however communities surrounding the Park do not feel that they benefit from tourism to the Park.” said the minister.
Investment in infrastructure by government is central to creating the conditions conducive for investment by the private sector and driving economic growth and job creation. The tourism sector is also a central part of the country’s economy and has been performing well over the past year as the sector recovers from the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic.
One of the key objectives of the Tourism Sector Master Plan is to stimulate demand and increase our tourism offerings and to achieve this, the Department of Tourism has a number of tourism infrastructure projects underway across the country.
Between January and October this year, South Africa has already welcomed more than 6.8 million tourists, a significant increase of more than 2.4million arrivals compared to the same period last year. This represents a 54.7% increase on 2022 arrivals for the same period, however the country still has not reached the 2019 international arrival figures.
