Rethinking Tourism - Opportunities Await

Tourism Month is celebrated annually in September and provides a heightened monthlong focus on the importance of the sector to the South African economy.

South Africans are encouraged to travel domestically to sustain jobs and support the recovery of tourism in line with the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan.

Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu together with Deputy Minister, Fish Mahlalela launched Tourism Month on 4 September 2022 at the !Khwa ttu Cultural Village, Western Cape, under the localised theme: "Rethinking Tourism: Opportunities await.” Hon. Minister Sisulu said, “As a country, we celebrate Tourism Month annually in September, to highlight and bring to the fore the importance of the tourism sector, its contribution to the South African economy and the potential it has to transform the trajectory of our country.”

Tourism Month aims to generate awareness of the enormous contribution that the tourism industry makes to provincial and national economic growth and job creation.

Sho’t Left

Tourism Month runs concurrently with the hosting of SA’s annual domestic campaign, Sho’t Left Travel Week, aimed at encouraging South Africans to travel and explore their country at discounted rates. Partnered by the tourism trade the best rates are negotiated for South Africans, making tourism accessible. Airlines, hotel groups, tour operators and tourist attractions offer discounted rates of up to 50% during the campaign that can be redeemed at any other time. Partner’s terms and conditions (T’s&C’s) do apply.

Promoting domestic tourism and creating a culture of travel amongst South Africans, we are encouraged to travel domestically to get a better understanding of the affordable, exciting and world class attractions that are available on our own doorstep.

“South Africans are discovering what many international tourists already know - the abundance of rich travel and tour opportunities right on their doorsteps,” say Sisulu.

!Khwa ttu Cultural Village – the host

Tourism Month 2022 was hosted at !Khwa ttu, a San culture and education centre based on an 850 hectare Nature Reserve, 70 kilometres north of Cape Town. A non-profit company, directed jointly by the San and the Swiss-based Ubuntu Foundation, !Khwa ttu has been providing jobs, and practical residential training for young San from all over southern Africa, since 1999.

!Khwa ttu is also a thriving tourism destination, boasting a busy restaurant, stylish guest houses, open air tented camps, thrilling mountain bike trails, and a shop selling hand-crafted gifts found nowhere else.

San guides lead unique tours for visitors, fulfilling !Khwa ttu’s mission to enable San to reclaim and share their heritage, in their own way.

On the occasion of hosting the launch of Tourism Month, San Council Secretary-General, Collin Louw said: “Today is a very big and good day for us as the San community because our rich history is receiving the exposure it really deserves and needs” Tourism activities enable !Khwa ttu to generate around half of its operational costs, and to serve as a highly innovative workplace, delivering individually designed, on-the-job training for between 50 and 75 San a year. San-led trails and guided experiences are designed to engage body and senses, as much as the mind and demonstrate the skills and knowledge of San from across southern Africa. 

"The San, the first people to inhabit southern Africa, represent a 100,000-yearold culture which should be considered one of the world's treasures."

- Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu Situated in the Cape Floral Kingdom, itself a UNESCO World Heritage site, !Khwa ttu embraces and champions a range of environmental stewardship programmes.