MBOMBELA – In its quest to increase tourism in Mpumalanga, one of the areas identified as having the most potential for economic growth, the provincial government plans to attract more and larger conferences to the Lowveld.
Mr Sikhumbuzo Eric Kholwane, MEC for economic development, recently returned from a trip to Frankfurt in Germany, where he attended a worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events.
“We want to focus on attracting big meetings and conferences to the province. Coupled with the development of tourism we can attract meetings of a certain size,” he told the press on Monday of last week.
He cited planned large infrastructure projects such as a international convention centre (ICC), cultural hub and a Skywalk. The hub is planned at a total project cost of R5 billion for an exhibition centre, theatre and cinema, just outside White River.
The proposed Skywalk at God’s Window, similar to the existing one at the Grand Canyon in Arizona in the USA is awaiting approval.
Kholwane added that the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) as the implementing agent, recently punted the ICC as an asset both during a recent trip to Italy and at the recent Tourism Indaba in Durban.
But on a question on its viability, MEGA CEO Mr Xola Sithole explained that the ICC in itself would not be self-sufficient like the successful models in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
“It is more important for the indirect benefits of investments and tourists. We can’t expect that it would become profitable, but it can attract potential surrounding it. Mpumalanga can’t be different.”
“A part of the problem in Mpumalanga is the number of days we keep tourists in the province,” Kholwane concluded. “It is critical. Some of these activities will help us to help tourists find things to do. The longer they stay, the more money they will spend.”
- Read more on the profitability of Mbombela Stadium here.
