The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) tourism unit is developing and diversifying the South African local tourism offering for foreign and especially local tourists in response to the worldwide recovery of the tourism sector, says IDC tourism unit head Christine Engelbrecht.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, South Africa’s tourism figure increased by 10.2% to 9.2-million visitors last year and the worldwide average growth in tourism was estimated at 4%.

The IDC has been funding projects in niche tourism sectors, such as adventure and sports, bird watching, backpackers, heritage and culture, as well as natural and human-made attractions in underdeveloped areas.

Underdeveloped nodes are identified and the natural strength of each province and region, through niche tourism subsectors, is being developed and improved. Any existing facili- ties in these nodes are also being expanded, which include underused public assets.

The projects include a skywalk at God’s Window and a cable car at the Blyde River Canyon, both in Mpumalanga, and facilities at the Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve, in the Eastern Cape. The Kruger National Park is also to have a new gate, the Shangoni gate, between the Phalaborwa and Punda Maria gates, explains Engelbrecht.

Further, the West Coast is a focal point for an array of water-based sport activities, including the unique R40-million Windtown project, at Langebaan, which is located 100 km north of Cape Town. A new three-star hotel for kite surfers, offering 32 rooms, full-service dining facilities, an equipment shop and repair facility, a wellness centre, as well as conference facilities, will be developed.

The IDC, Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), KZN Tourism and Ilembe Enterprise are partnering with the Nonoti/Ingaba community trust, which was awarded a 450 ha land claim in iLembe, north of Durban, in KZN.

The partnership is developing a multiproduct beach resort at the site, which will target the domestic market and create more than 250 direct jobs and 150 indirect jobs during the first phase of another four-star hotel.

This hotel will comprise 250 rooms, 24 four- star self-catering units and 16 three-star self-catering units, and will cost about R600-million to build. The environmental-impact assessment and zoning approval are under way.

As part of the IDC’s project development approach, it seeks to partner with operators, the public sector, local tourism authorities and the Department of Tourism to identify projects that can be developed. The IDC will assist with prefeasibility studies, feasibility studies and preimplementation to bring it to a bankable feasibility stage, after which it may provide funding as required, explains Engelbrecht.

The IDC has invested almost R5-billion in the tourism sector since 1993 and helped create about 13 500 jobs. It invested R355-million in various projects in the past year, creating 909 direct jobs, and it has a current exposure of R2.6-billion to 90 clients.

The IDC’s tourism strategy is based on the National Tourism Sector Strategy, which aims to place South Africa among the top 20 world tourist destinations, create 225 000 jobs and add R500-billion to the country’s gross domestic product by 2020.

“The IDC is focusing on developing local attractions that are affordable for local visitors and appeal to the international market,” she says.

At the Annual Tourism Statistics Launch last month, President Jacob Zuma said that Europe remained the biggest source of overseas tourists visiting South Africa in 2012, a 9.5% increase, compared with the 2011 figures. Foreign tourists spent R76.4-billion in South Africa last year, an increase of 7.6% on the total foreign direct spend in the country in 2011.