In a bid to boost the tourism sector in the Eastern Cape, the provincial government will address “binding constraints” such as roads and air transport infrastructure issues, premier Oscar Mabuyane announced on Friday.
Delivering his state of the province address at the Bhisho legislature on Friday, Mabuyane said an estimated R213m would be spent over the next three years to improve the access runway at the King Phalo Airport in East London, funded by the Airports Company SA.
“The Airports Company SA will also be spending R4.6bn at the Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha for runway rehabilitation.
“While we pursue this work, we will continue with our endeavours to operationalise the Bhisho Airport for international cargo transportation,” Mabuyane, who raised concerns that tourism was a “growth frontier” the province had not fully optimised, said.
The premier said the province was encouraged by the solid domestic tourism figures “with an average of 6.7-million tourists in the past five years”.
“We will vigorously market and promote our province to international tourists.
“Our Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency is already identifying potential markets in the continent, and Brics and G20 countries.”
To attract and retain international tourists, Mbuyane said the province was “diversifying our product offerings to include culture, sport and heritage which are endowments of our province”.
The province would also bid to host more sporting events “because they create jobs and business opportunities in the hospitality industry”.
Daily Dispatch