By Bhekisisa Mncube
Durban - The South African NGO, Open Africa and Grant Thornton Consulting have been contracted by the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA-N) Compact to assist the Namibia Tourism Board in plotting three self-drive travel routes in Namibia, Open Africa general manager, Francois Viljoen announced today.
The announcement was made at the 2013 Tourism Indaba held in Durban.
The development and marketing of the three tourism routes will focus primarily on communal conservancies, with the explicit goal of directing visitors to the communal areas in support of local businesses, thereby encouraging job creation and poverty alleviation.
While the Namibia tourism sector has grown at a steady rate since independence in 1990, it is still reliant on tourists from neighbouring Angola and South Africa, as well as Germany and other European countries.
According to the Namibian Tourism Board, the aim of the project is to diversify tourism products and experiences and increase and share the benefits with rural communities in rural areas, which will sustain and create jobs.
The government of Namibia has signed the grant funding agreement (MCA-N) Compact with the United States government body, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The compact aims to reduce poverty through economic growth and funds development projects in the sector of education, tourism and agriculture.
Viljoen said: “In one of the most significant developments yet, the country of Namibia adopted the route development model as a vehicle for rural tourism development. We couldn’t be more excited about this project and we are looking forward to working with the local communities and enterprises in the identified areas and sharing Namibia’s conservation story with the rest of the world.”
Martin Jansen van Vuuren, Strategic Solutions Director of Grant Thornton Advisory Services said: “International trends points to route development being the most effective way to promote and develop a destination. We, at Grant Thornton, are looking forward to the opportunity to partner with MCA-N and NTB in the pioneering project.”
Head of Industry Services at the Namibian Tourism Board, Manfred Gaeb, said of the project: “Just when we were thinking when will people at grassroots level ever benefit from tourism, MCA came up with diversification of tourism products in our regions. This is possibly the most exciting time in tourism development in Namibia.”
Sisco Auala, the Marketing Manager of MCA-N Tourism commented, said they were excited about the project. “It will further unlock opportunities in communal conservancies by getting tourists off the beaten track into conservancy areas.”
The new routes will play a crucial role in sharing this story with a larger audience and attracting more travellers and trade to these often remote and undiscovered areas. The route development process will run until April 2014. – SAnews.gov.za
