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www.thevillagenews.co.za
3 February 2021
LOVE A LITTLE LOCAL
Be a tourist in your own town WINE & DINE
T
he Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the South African economy, with the tourism and hospitality industries being hit especially hard. Here in the Overstrand, locals have been coming up with innovative ways to combat this crisis, from beautifying the town to promoting the support of local businesses. One of these locals, Matthew Kearns, the owner of www.tribaltourist.com (a booking platform focused on tourism and conservation) and the Facebook page ‘Hermanus Together’, reached out to Overstrand tourism operators and organisations a few weeks ago by inviting them to take part in his project to promote local tourism through a series of video interviews. When Kim Maclean (Sharklady Adventures), Herman de Vries (Walkerbay Adventures), Heather Blackstock (Panthera Africa), Danie van Zyl (Heaven and Earth Trails) and Di Rattle (Love Local Overberg) expressed their interest, Matthew met with each of them for interviews which were filmed by local videographer Kyle Bonorchis. “These people have poured their life and soul
ABOVE: Kyle Bonorchis films Matthew Kearn’s interview with Herman de Vries from Walkerbay Adventures. RIGHT: Matthew Kearns of Tribal Tourist, aims to help tourism in the Overberg through a series of video interviews with local tourism operators. PHOTOS: Taylum Meyer
into tourism,” said Matthew when asked about his project. “As we know tourism globally has been hit hard by the Covid crisis, so I took it upon myself to share their positive stories with you. We need locals to go out and explore their own backyards. There is so much to see and do in the Overberg.” In the interviews, Matthew asked each person about their business, what they have to offer and how they have been impacted by the pandemic. His aim with these videos is to spread a little positivity and to promote tourism in the Overberg. In order to help these businesses stay afloat in the absence of international visitors and our ‘swallows’, we all need to become tourists in our own town. The video interviews are still being edited and will be uploaded to Facebook over the next few weeks. The first interview with Di Rattle from Love Local Overberg, a personal blog dedicated to promoting everything the Overberg has to offer, is already uploaded and can be found on the group ‘Hermanus Together’ on Facebook. Alternatively you can visit https://fb.watch/3nwWFTP3Eg/. – Taylum Meyer
