Pretoria - Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has vowed to give the Kruger National Park a boost in safety measures, giving a lifeline to the nature reserve to attract more visitors.
The nearly 2 million hectares of unrivalled diversity of wildlife is arguably South Africa’s number one tourism attraction with a little less than 1 million international and local visitors setting foot in it each year, bringing millions into the country’s economy.
De Lille was visiting the park as part of her oversight duties last week, inspecting investment projects by her ministry and the private sector while monitoring safety measures taken by management.
To deter poaching in the park, the management has installed three security camera points in the reserve, with 12 more installations expected while unleashing dogs to combat poaching, which has made an impact so far.
De Lille said after the visit that the government was committed to bolstering the park through tourism investment and safety measures.
“It is well known that there have been many crime incidents in and around the Kruger with criminals attacking tourists. This is a matter that we take very seriously.
“But we cannot have criminality stand in the way of our tourist attractions thriving because that is how we can ultimately create more jobs.
“We will work to find and action solutions to anything that stands in the way of that objective to grow tourism’s contribution to the country’s economy as espoused in the country’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan,” she said.
In May, De Lille held a National Tourism Safety meeting with all Tourism MECs and the private sector on measures to enhance tourism safety and how to communicate these safety measures worldwide.
“With our vast natural beauty and wildlife, the Kruger National Park is a must-see attraction on the bucket lists of travellers from all over the world and the country. It is vital that this attraction provides tourists with a world-class and authentically South African experience.”
After receiving a briefing from SA National Parks (SANParks) management on tourism activities and safety issues in the park, De Lille committed to work with the national, provincial and local government, private sector and communities to enhance safety in and around the park.
Her department was finalising a training curriculum set to deploy more than 2 200 tourism safety monitors to key tourist attractions and hotspot areas, including the Kruger, she said.
She had set aside R174m for this programme to improve safety around the 59 tourism hotspots identified by the National Tourism Safety Forum.
Her visit to the park focused on how all government pillars could contribute to enhancing tourism and measure its performance to achieve progress on the key priorities for tourism as outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The priorities include tour operator licences, e-visas, tourism safety, the Tourism Equity Fund, tourism infrastructure development, increasing the volume and value of domestic and international tourism and the tourism sector master plan. These prioritie were all aimed at increasing domestic and international tourist numbers.
Pretoria News