Destea director Kgotso Tau explains they are hosting this event to assure travellers and tourists that the department is ready to do business again, and that the province is ready to be rediscovered and explored, after the tourism industry was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What we therefore want everybody to understand is that there are specific interventions that the government is working on, namely: tourism enterprise development and support, the transformation of the sector, partnerships and collaborations, capacity building and skills development, and effective marketing.”

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Tau says this two-day event forms part of the tourism month celebration, where participating tourism product owners throughout the Free State province will be exhibiting at the Phakisa raceway.

He says other activities include a panel discussion about the state of the tourism industry in the Free State, which will include government and the private sector, to outline what should be done in order to revive and ignite the recovery of the sector in the province.

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Tau further adds before the pandemic, the tourism industry was the second growing industry after the mining industry, and it was the first sector to suffer the impact of the pandemic.

It was also the first sector to regain lost jobs after the pandemic subsided, which indicates that this industry is critical to job creation and empowering the economy.

OFM News/Mpho Mohapi