LTA joins WTD global celebrations
Limpopo
The Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) has formed part of the World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations, which have taken place during the launching of Astro Tourism Strategy at Carnarvon Town in Northern Cape.
The day was observed on Thursday 26 September 2024 under the theme: “Tourism and Peace, which was customized to suit the South African context to read. 30 years of connecting people to places and cultures under which Tourism Month is celebrated.”
During the event, LTA was represented by the agency’s Secretary, Thapelo Kotsedi who was standing in for the LTA CEO, Moses Ngobeni and the its Head of Corporate Communications and PR, Mike Tauatsoala.
This year, WTD marked a 44 year anniversary after it was incepted in 1980, with its festivities first observed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Celebrated every year on 27 September around the world, the purpose of WTD is to foster awareness among the international community on the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value.
The purpose of this day is to highlight South Africa’s diverse offerings to the nation. The event further seeks to address global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while highlighting the contribution the tourism sector can make in realizing these goals.
Every year, UNWTO invites people of all ages and backgrounds to hold and take part in WTD celebrations in their respective countries.
In her address, the Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, said: “Very exciting for me is that this province is leading South Africa’s proactive stance in leveraging the significant advances made in the development of the world’s largest space telescope array, with a comprehensive Astro-Tourism strategy. It is for this reason that we chose this site to be the focus of our official World Tourism Day celebration here in the Northern Cape on 27 September 2024.”
De Lille further stated that there are immense opportunities for Astro Tourism in South Africa and especially in the Northern Cape and this is why we were intentional about selecting this province and the town of Carnarvon.
During the event, LTA Acting CEO, Thapelo Kotsedi, 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 major events we had recently including Tourism Friday activities, Explore Limpopo Tourism Market, Phala Phala FM Royal Heritage Festival and many more, will increase the volumes of domestic trips and international arrivals to our province. This will help create much needed jobs to fight poverty, unemployment and inequality, which are the triple challenges tormenting our society,” he said.
Kotsedi said 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 and to utilize the event as an important platform to boost business relations between the public and private sector.
