Limpopo; Polokwane: Today marks the 42 nd anniversary of the of the Word Tourism Day (WTD) Celebration since its inception in 1980 when the celebrations were first observed in and made possible by the United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO). Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) like other provinces has also made a representation of the province with the delegation of three led by the Board Chairperson, Mr. Andrew Dipela. He is accompanied by the Acting Chief
Executive Officer, Mr. Sello Maleka and Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. Modjadji Makoela. This year’s WTD celebrations took place in the Western Cape at the Overberg Ecology Lifestyle Farm, a black female-owned property in the Overberg.
The owner is affiliated to Women in Tourism Western Cape Chapter.
Celebrated every September 27 around the world, the purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community on the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political, and economic value. The purpose is of
this day is to highlight South Africa’s diverse offering to the nations. The event further seeks to address global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and highlight the contribution the tourism sector can make in reaching these goals. Every year, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) invites people of all ages and backgrounds to hold and take part in World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations in their respective countries.
This year’s theme has been coined by UNWTO as “Rethinking Tourism- Opportunities Await” to address progress made in the devastation caused by the pandemic and its effects and how policy makers and the tourism sector have adapted making the sector resilient. The tourism sector, which is the highest employer compared to all sectors, is the most resilient and reliable sector in the country and contributes immensely to the province’s economy.
The Chairperson of the LTA Board, Mr. Andrew Dipela, has emphasized the importance of people travelling their own localities as that will make a huge contribution to the economy of the province. “We are confident that the events
we had recently including the hosting Miss Heritage Global, will increase the volumes of domestic trips and international arrivals to our province and this will help create much needed jobs to fight poverty, unemployment and inequality
which are the triple challenges of our society”, said Dipela.
The Agency’s objectives of the Tourism Month Campaign are to inspire and drive demand for domestic tourism, to reduce seasonality and promote all year-round leisure travel, to utilize the event as an important platform to boost business
relations between the public and private sector, to encourage the industry to embrace the digital transformation in their enterprises and to encourage the industry to do tourism business within Covid-19 protocols, thus ‘Rethinking Tourism’.
RELEASED ON BEHALF OF LIMPOPO TOURISM AGENCY BY:
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS & PR
MIKE TAUATSOALA
TEL : 015 293 3600
CELL : 082 886 3294
EMAIL : miket@golimpopo.com
