Mpumalanga Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Vusumuzi Mkhatshwa has called on municipalities to standardise by-laws and apply them uniformly across all municipalities in the province.
Municipalities started reviewing their by-laws in 2018, but the review process has yet to be concluded.
The MEC also called on municipalities to use the opportunity to support the informal economy and further encouraged municipalities to establish desks dedicated to tourism.
“In most cases, the tourism function is situated within the Local Economic Development (LED) units and, usually, LED managers have a lot on their table to deal with, thus, it is critically important that there is a dedicated person dealing with tourism, so that the sector enjoys the overwhelming support of the municipalities,” Mkhatshwa says.