OVERVIEW
Tourism Sun City’s revamp is paying off.
SECTOR INSIGHT North West hosted the 2018 National Tourism Careers Expo.
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n 2019 Sun City will celebrate its 40th birthday. A recent upgrade, which cost in the region of R1-billion, is paying off with increased conference bookings for the resort destination which lies next to the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve. Venues available for hire range from a 12-seater Council Room to the Superbowl which can accommodate 6 000, and just about everything in between. Another big event for Sun City and the events industry in the North West province was the holding of the SAFTAs, the South African Film and Television Awards, for the first time in 2017. With six kinds of accommodation, two outstanding golf courses, casinos and a choice-filled entertainment complex, the Sun City Resort is a major tourism asset and significant employer in the province. In 2017, Sun International honoured 50 employees who had worked at Sun City for 25 years or more. NORTH WEST BUSINESS 2019
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Sun City also was the venue for the 2018 National Tourism Careers Expo (NTCE), jointly organised by the National Department of Tourism, the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) and North West Tourism. The theme was Tourism and Digital Transformation and more than 7 000 pupils and graduates attended the three-day event. The North West Parks and Tourism Board is unique in South Africa in that it is the only provincial government entity that runs a hotel school. The Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management (IHTM) has two campuses, one in Mafikeng and one at GaRankuwa outside Pretoria. The courses offered are approved by the Council for Higher Education and accredited with the relevant sector authority, THETA. The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the North-West University of fers Tourism Management and the professors and researchers are at the top of their profession. In 2018, the North West Department of Economy and
