Lukhanji Municipality Queenstown

Sports and Adventure

The Lukhanji Municipality is the ideal destination for sports and adventure enthusiasts, offering a wide variety of activities in which to participate. The conditions, from both a physical and climate point of view support an outdoor lifestyle where where many of the local residents are affiliated to sports clubs. There are numerous well supported sport clubs in the area, some of which were established as early as 1883. Some of many clubs include running, squash, tennis, cricket, rugby, wild trout fishing, cycling, boxing and soccer. The Power and Yacht Club and the Flying Club are both active adventure areas that draw much interest.

Additional adventure activities include fishing, hiking, bird watching and horse-riding, while the rugged mountain rages provide excellent rock climbing and abseiling opportunities.

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What is a Local Tourism Organisation (LTO)?

In a South African context, the tourism strategy at a local government level has two main strategic priorities. Firstly, to grow the tourism economy by increasing the number of visitors and therefore increase the economic benefits of tourism to the area as a whole and secondly, to diversify the tourism industry to all sectors of the population, specifically by assisting, supporting and promoting the development of emerging tourism entrepreneurs and SMMEs as well as community-based tourism products.

Tourism performs an enormous role in the local economy of the Lukhanji Municipality, thus playing an important role in poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth. Tourism provides significantly towards the regions GDP, creates numerous job opportunities and is a major contributor towards Capital Investment into Lukhanji.

A Local Tourism Organisation (LTO) is formed around that the core principle that tourism business can be attracted to a destination more effectively through a representative organisation that through independent individual actions. An LTO therefore services like a cooperative, representing all components of a destination’s tourism interests and industry. These components can amongst others include:

Hotels
B&Bs / Guest Houses
Restaurants
Tour Operators
Attractions and Sites
Transport Carriers
Local Authorities
Retail and commercial activities that contribute and support the Tourist’s experience in a particular destination.

The Lukhanji Municipality has an enormous number of Tourism initiatives; however, due to the lack of a coordinated structure, the full potential of Tourism within the Lukhanji region can not be easily realized. A functional Local Tourism Organisation (LTO) is therefore desperately needed in the Lukhanji Municipality in order to assist in both the development and the growth of this sector. The role of the LTO is therefore to represent a proactive and effective organisation that can carry out a comprehensive and unified marketing program for the community that it serves, in order to build and project an attractive image of the destination to relevant Tourist target markets.

The Tourism sector in the Lukhanji Municipal area needs a structure with the vision to position the region as a major economic growth node in the Eastern Cape. The Lukhanji Municipality lies in the Friendly N6 Tourism region and is therefore strategically position in terms of locality. A diverse mix of tourist offerings ranging from mountain hiking, game drives, cultural and township tours to sports and recreation activities form the backdrop of Tourism potential in Lukhanji. The LTO is sure to benefit all parties involved as well as unlock the economic growth potential of the Tourism sector. The LTO will need to capitalise on the already existing eco-tourism base (made up of all the game reserves and accommodation industry) while taking advantage of the enormous opportunities which exist in a currently under-established Township Tourism market as well as other cultural and heritage activities.

The Lukhanji LTO is in its final set-up stages. The Interim Steering Committee is working hard to ensure that the LTO gets up and running as soon as possible. The LTO will be supported by a Tourism Information Centre which will look to provide a holistic tourism offering to visitors that visit Queenstown and Lukhanji and will also seek to provide a marketing service to all tourism product owners. The LTO needs participation from all tourism stakeholders, including members from local government, organized business, schools and the education sector, sports groupings, churches and the media.

All stakeholders who are interested in becoming more involved in the Tourism Sector and the LTO are requested to contact 072 872 9597 or email 045@webmail.co.za.

To download a copy of the Tourism Brochure, please click here.

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