The City of Tshwane has launched an adventurous marketing campaign to aggressively promote domestic tourism and attract tourists from other provinces and outside the country. 

This comes after concerns that tourists bypass the city to other provinces due to lack of information on tourism products the city can offer.

Zibonele Ntuli attended the launch marked by a media tour to the city’s attractions.

Stationed 48km north of the Johannesburg International Airport, the City of Tshwane is one of Gauteng’s biggest cosmopolitan cities that boast a number of interesting attractions such as heritage routes, trails, museums, nature reserves, historic buildings and art centres.

It can also be described as the administrative seat with a visible number of government departments, academic, scientific and technological research institutions based here and possessing a number of embassies, foreign missions, and consulates.

The Siyaya eTshwane marketing campaign will run until September and is meant to create awareness about all these magnificent unique tourism products.

It also seeks to position the city as a heritage and cultural hub of the country with many of its attractive features and sites making it one of the premiere tourist destinations in the country.

Implemented in October last year, the campaign has been implemented against a backdrop of unprecedented growth in the city’s domestic tourism market that currently injects R47 billion into the country’s economy.

In line with the national campaign for domestic travel, Sho’t Left, the campaign will ensure that it gets a fair share of the pie when its own residents start to visit tourist areas in their vicinity.

It is in this regard that the city wants to take advantage of the current good economic conditions. It has subsequently profiled a package of at least 12 main tourism attractions that tourists should not miss at all.

They are the National Zoological Garden, the Tswaing Crater, Groenkloof Nature Reserve, National Botanical Garden, Reitvlei Nature Reserve, Palace of Justice, Union Buildings, Melrose House, Voortrekker Monument, Solomon Mahlangu Square, Freedom Park and Wonderboom.

When tourists and travelers find themselves stuck at the famous Church Square, they can relax while dining and interacting at the city’s quite Kariba Restaurant that specialises in ethnic cuisine housed in a building that is an icon of colonial architecture.

Named after one of the man-made lakes on the Zambezi River, between the borders of Zimbabwe and Zambia, the restaurant is a meeting place for people from diverse backgrounds.

“This is South Africa anyway where different histories merge to form a harmonious whole. It’s a place where anyone can sample the goodness of Africa, its warmth, rich culture and delicious food,” says owner Ms Kutlwano Kukama.

Its main course dishes differ from roasted traditional chicken prepared in a blend of herbs, ox tripe cooked in the African traditional way, tshothlo, familiar yet irresistible traditional beef strips cooked to perfection.

Ten minutes away from Church Square is the Freedom Park that is being built to commemorate the country’s political history. 

Once completed in 2007, the 35-hectares site will comprise a garden of remembrance, a museum, statues and sculpture to honour South Africans who contributed to the country’s freedom and development. 

Freedom Park is seen as a tribute to the truth and reconciliation process of the country.

Few metres away is the Voortrekker Monument which receives approximately 200 000 visitors a year. It has been built to commemorate the centenary of the Great trek when its pioneers traveled to the northern parts of the country.

Its hall of heroes contains one of the world’s longest historical friezes reflecting the experience of the Great Trek. The lower level boasts a cenotaph that symbolises the battle of the Blood River that the Afrikaaners lost to the Zulus.

Built in 1937 and completed in 1949 the monument still has artifacts used by Voortrekker leader Piet Retief such as prayer books, clothing, violins and a silver snuffbox owned by his wife Magdalena. Some artifacts include the Retief-Dingane Treaty signed in 1838, wooden jug found by trekkers in Mzilikazi’s kraal around the same years.

Another point of attraction is the Solomon Mahlangu Square in Mamelodi East. This falls under the city’s struggle and freedom route that begins at the Union Buildings where the country’s first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela was inaugurated.

Mamelodi is situated approximately 20km away from the city and has a piece of land dedicated to the freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu whom the apartheid regime gave the death penalty on 6 April 1979.

It is also in this piece of land where a shocking Mamelodi massacre took place in 1987 when 80 000 residents took to the streets in protest against a stronger Rand.

Thirteen people lost their lives consequently, when the apartheid police opened fire on them.

It was for this reason; the square was named after the late Mahlangu in appreciation of his dedication towards the struggle for liberation.

The late Chris Hani unveiled his statue there in 1991.

Another attraction is the National Zoological Garden right in the heart of the famous city and has extensively contributed towards the local economy.

Housing more than 97 mammals, 161 birds, 279 fish, 106 reptiles and seven amphibian species, the zoo is home to more than 4 300 animals.

With such tourism products in place, the City of Tshwane is set to achieve even more of its marketing campaigns. 

As the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Marketing, Economic Development, Airports and Transport Councilor Theo Tlholo puts it, Tshwane will be able to attract tourists to experience various exciting offerings.

“As a city we want to take advantage of the good economic conditions prevailing in our country, where citizens have more disposable income. This campaign will ensure that we get our fair share of this growing domestic tourism market.

“We have also made sure that product owners are brought on board.  Therefore the campaign really is a joint venture with tourism operation in our city,” says Mr Tlholo.

Meanwhile the city’s General Manager for Marketing Phenyo Nonqane is confident that the campaign will achieve its objective of attracting local tourists. 

He adds that they want people to know that the city is serious about promoting domestic tourism.

“South Africa has got an ugly past, but we have a better future. With the type of leadership we have, we are destined to become a powerhouse in the world.

“Black people do not travel with an intention to enjoy, it is in this regard that we package these places in order for them to have a taste as they were not allowed to go to these places in the past,” says Mr Nonqane. - BuaNews