Sun sets on successful tourism month

ANOTHER successful Tourism Month has come and gone in Nelson Mandela Bay, so say local residents who literally went along for the ride and savoured some of the city’s must-do tourist attractions.

NMBT arranged a jam-packed programme that included guided walks - South End Museum Heritage Trail, Sacramento, Roseate Tern, BayTV-NMBT National Braai Day Celebrations at Happy Valley, Travel Quest and a Sunset Township Experience.

“I was blown away. The Sunset Township Experience was brilliant, so well organised by NMBT. It is vital for every local resident and visitor to the city to experience what township life is all about,” said Annalene van Rooyen, a local grandmother and business women, who read about the excursion in the media and booked a place for herself and her daughter.

Van Rooyen said many people who attended had never been into a township before, “The excursion took away any nervousness and fear they had before their visit. We were bussed to the station where we got onto a train - just like the workers, took a bus to Red Location Museum, went to the backpackers there, visited a hair-dressing salon, bought meat at a township butcher and then braai’d it ourselves. I have since recommended such an excursion to so many people.”

Another happy local was estate agency Rube Geyer, who had never been on a township tour before. She read about the Sunset Tour on a website, “I absolutely loved it. I got together a group of 12 friends. NMBT certainly achieved what they set out to do - promote the city as a tourist attraction to locals. I was also invited to participate in the Travel Quest, which meant I visited so many places I would never have otherwise visited. The Travel Quest was a race, so there was not much time to take in everything. I will certainly revisit many of the sites.”

Geyer loves African travel and that is why she signed up for the township experience, “We are so focused on international travel and what we really need to do is become a tourist in our own city first.”

NMBT events coordinator Phrosné Phillips said although there is always room for improvement, this year’s Tourism Month had proved to be one of the best ever, “NMBT was able to package interesting experiences and expose frontline staff at various tourism establishments to our city’s activities and attractions. We did this through their participation in Travel Quest - NMBT’s own version of the television reality travel show Amazing Race."

Phillips said there is general concern in the tourism industry that staff cannot give first hand accounts to visitors who ask questions about what there is to do in the city.

“Tourism Month provides us with the opportunity to educate locals. We have received many rave reviews from the hundreds of people who took part in one or more of the activities that formed part of the programme.”

NMBT CEO Mandlakazi Skefile said: “Staff had to make sure that whatever was part of the programme was arranged within limited budgets. There must have been times that staff had to pull rabbits out of the proverbial magic hat to deliver, but they did. I commend the staff, stakeholders and members on what they achieved this tourism month. You all did our city proud!”

Phillips said taking a group of people from Gelvan Park Home for the Aged to Addo Elephant National Park was a rewarding and satisfying experience, “Financially it cost very little to arrange but money could not have bought the satisfaction of organisers when they saw how much the elderly enjoyed seeing an elephant for the first time in their advanced years.”

Also included in the Tourism Month programme were a Cultural Explosion event at the Boardwalk Vodacom Amphitheatre, a Night at the Museum treasure hunt at No 7 Castle Hill, The Dolphin Motorbike Rally, motocross and the Ultimate Frisbee event.