EC provincial, local tourism synergise

THE newly formed Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) is building itself around themes of integration and synergy as they bring together two independent organisations under one banner.

In July 2010 Eastern Cape Parks merged with the Eastern Cape Tourism Agency after both organisations recognised the need for the improved synergy between conservation and tourism in the province.

At a presentation given by Lavinia Subboo, ECPTA interim Director of Marketing and Communication, to tourism stakeholders in Nelson Mandela Bay at a recent Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) membership meeting, she outlined the vision for the newly fused bodies as “conservation meeting tourism”.

“This model will have significant potential in impacting more effectively our ability to create employment, address the challenges of rural development and overall economic transformation through growing the tourism potential within our protected areas,” said Subboo.

She said that tourism development would be facilitated through tourism product development, marketing, human resource development, infrastructure, transformation, research and safety and security.

Titus Chuene, marketing manager of NMBT, said ECPTA’s commitment to integration and synergy was clearly evident with their presence at the NMBT meeting.

“We all need to work together in the tourism industry to both protect biodiversity and make sure that the benefits of tourism are reaped by many,” said Chuene. “Steps to communicate provincial objectives at the local level are commendable and really make talk of ‘integration’ visible in practice.”

Paralleling Chuene’s thought’s Subboo said that one of their strategic goals was to serve as a catalyst for all dimensions of tourism in the province, part of which was mobilising other tourism entities and stakeholders to have a vested interest in integrated tourism. 

Author: Amy Shelver