Brainstorming session to revive tourism sector in Bay
In a bid to boost tourism, the South End Museum Trust hosted a brainstorming session on Friday to help find ways to revive the Bay’s diminishing tourism sector.
Tour operators, tourism students, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism employees and municipality representatives met at the museum to put forward the critical challenges facing the industry.
Facilitator and South End Museum administrator Colin Abrahams said the initiative followed ongoing negative reports about the metro’s heritage sites and tourism facilities.
The initiative comes shortly after a preliminary report on the economic impact of tourism revealed that the number of international visitors to the Bay dropped from 16.19% in December 2017 to 10.94% in December 2018.
Some of the core complaints raised during the session included the issue of vandalism, insufficient security measures – particularly in the Central area – and the rubbish found at some of the main sites.
“What we have noted is that people do not take enough pride in this city. Our people do not themselves promote Port Elizabeth,” Abrahams said.
“We need residents to take ownership of our heritage sites and our other wonderful attractions,” he said.
Port Elizabeth-based historian Belinda Brown said it was crucial that the tourism sector took a proactive approach in educating school pupils about the city’s heritage.
She said the youth needed to become more involved in marketing the metro.
“There is so much school pupils can learn about our heritage and it is through education that we can get our children more involved.
“We need to go to schools and present to them why it is so important to visit our sites so they can appreciate and understand cultural diversity,” Brown said.
Another suggestion was made to implement a hop-on-hop-off tour bus system, similar to the one available in Cape Town.
But the director for tourism at the NMB municipality, Mpho Pebane, said investigations had been done in the past – but tour numbers in the metro did not yet validate the investment.
Pebane said the municipality was also faced with fragmented bodies responsible for security and upkeep of the various sites.
“If you look at Fort Frederick as an example, one unit will see to the maintenance of the lawns, another unit will focus on security and the same can be said of fencing and waste management.
“The physical structure falls under a separate directory.
“What this means is there is no proper co-ordination.
“So while one unit might fulfil its responsibility – another might not. My task then is to ensure there is proper coordination,” he said.
He invited the attendees to put forward their ideas via e-mail in order to develop a working document with substantiated plans to enhance the sector.
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