HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? CLICK HERE

CNR. Klasie Havenga & Frikkie Meyer Blvd.

Vanderbijlpark, 1911

Open Weekdays (07:45 - 16:15)

Closed on Weekends

Opening address by the Executive Mayor Cllr Greta Hlongwane, at the official launch of the Vaal River Meander Wine Route 2011 at the Emerald Resort on 01 July 2011, delivered on her behalf by MMC for SRAC Cllr Shaka Radebe

Cllr NG HlongwaneCEO of Emerald Casino Resort - Mr. Martin Rice, Honourable Mayor of Sedibeng District, Cllr Mahole Simon Mofokeng, Members of the Mayoral Committee, Councillors present here today, Representatives from the Gauteng Tourism Authority, Venue owners and wine partners, Winemakers and wine connoisseurs, C4C Project Leader - Mr. J van Pletzen, Mrs. Style South Africa – Mrs Erica Myburgh, Marketing team of the Vaal River Meander Wine Route, Friends from the media, Our VIP guests present here today, The Emerald Casino Resort Management and staff, Members of the community, All protocol observed.

Programme Director, let me start by reminding everyone here that today is the 1st of July, the month that marks the first anniversary of Africa's first FIFA WORLD CUP. The World Cup that many have called the best World Cup ever, FIFA’s most commercially successful ever, and arguably it’s most socially important ever, as it was in a developing country and continent with so much to prove.

This time last year, the tourism sector, including the South African community at large, was entrusted with the responsibility of welcoming strangers to our land, to make their stay enjoyable and to encourage them to return again to visit. This was the time when the South African tourism sector dispelled doubt in its ability and invited the world to witness the reality, rather than believe the perceptions of what they thought South Africa was really about.

Honourable guests, i am deeply humbled by the invitation to address a group as influential and important to our Municipality as you are. As the Emfuleni Local Municipality, we value the partnership that we have with you. Together, we must continually ask ourselves what more can we do to compete with the best. I am convinced that we cannot do without you if we want to continue creating jobs in the tourism sector, especially amongst women and the youth.

I want to fully agree with our Minister of Tourism Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk when he said during his budget vote speech in Parliament in April this year “The tourism sector is not only a multi-faceted industry that contributes to economic growth on many levels, but it is also a labour intensive industry with a significant capacity for creating jobs. The sector is also fertile environment for entrepreneurs and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs)”.

Programme Director, South African Tourisms’ Marketing and Growth Strategy lists eight key challenges for Tourism in South Africa, one of them being seasonality. Like many other destinations in South Africa, the Emfuleni Region faces the same challenge. These seasonal patterns present a significant challenge for product owners and transport operators, as business profitability and job sustainability is a function of activity throughout the year.
Against this background, opportunities should be sought to address this challenge such as product development to draw tourism during the quieter months. To this, it seems the Vaal River Meander Wine Route has stepped up to the challenge.

As most of you will be aware, nine years ago the Vaal River Meander Wine Route was established to market and expose the Emfuleni area during the winter months with the intention to improve the general perception of the area and to attract more tourists to this area during the winter season. This project, ladies and gentlemen, has endeavored to create as many opportunities as possible for local tour operators, artist and musicians to become involved wherever possible at the venues, thus creating the prospect of employment for local communities and improve their socio-economic circumstances in the process. That is why, as a service driven Municipality, we are committed to give our unconditional support to it.

During my inauguration speech, I promised that we will unlock local economic development through rural and urban flagship projects. That we will introduce adopt a park programme, where big business will be approached and requested to adopt and maintain a park for the sustainability of our environment and beautification of our communities. This, ladies and gentlemen will certainly attract more visitors to our region and thus contributing to our tourism economy.

Programme Director, we make this commitment of support as local government in support of our National Government’s position on the Tourism Sector. Minister van Schalkwyk, again during his budget vote speech, committed that the National Department of Tourism will contribute more than 10-thousand full time equivalent jobs in the current financial year through its Social Responsibility Implementation (SRI) programme and the Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP). Honourable guests and ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge commitment by government to drive the tourism sector to greater heights.

Since the target market of the Vaal River Meander Wine Route is not only the Sedibeng area but also the Pretoria, Johannesburg and Witwatersrand area up to and including, venues that fall within a 200km radius, i am optimistic that we have the potential to exceed the 8000 visitors that we attract from outside the Sedibeng area annually. If you are prepared to strain every sinew to take tourism forward, we will give you a government that stands fully behind you. And together we will make sure that tourism plays its fullest possible part in putting our great region’s economy back to where it belongs.

In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to address this gathering today. I know that these kinds of interactions can only serve to equip us better in terms of our shared objective of growing the tourism industry and making a meaningful, sustainable and lasting impact.

I thank you, Baie dankie, Ke a leboha.

Search