Boundless Southern Africa Expedition Redefines Southern African Tourism

Were you there at the launch of The Boundless Southern Africa Expedition during this year’s Indaba? You’ll remember it if you were – and you can find out about it here if you weren’t (and while you’re there, watch a video of Mad Mike and Graham Field parachuting onto the concourse outside the ICC).

Now it seems to me that the Expedition – under the leadership of Kingsley Holgate – has kind of re-defined tourism in a way because it was a vivid and dramatic evocation of the spirit of “Boundless Southern Africa” – which, according the Expedition’s web site, “is the brand selected by 9 Southern African countries to promote tourism and investment opportunities across 7 Transfrontier Conservation Areas.”

And here’s the crunch: “A positive response to the African Legacy Programme devised by the FIFA 2010 Local Organising Committee, Boundless Southern Africa is marketed in terms of ecosystems and not in terms of political or geographical boundaries, (my emphasis) uniting African Nations as viable and worthy collective tourist destinations promoting greater collaboration between neighboring countries when it comes to conserving and promoting Africa’s rich and extraordinary environments, nature, heritage and cultures.

“A TFCA (Transfrontier Conservation Area) is defined as “the area or component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries, encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas”.

“Boundless Southern Africa incorporates the following Transfrontier Conservation Areas:

  • /Ai-/Ais – Richtersveld Transfrontier Park – South Africa, Namibia
  • Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Botswana, South Africa
  • Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area – Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe
  • Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area- Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
  • Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park – Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe
  • Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area – Swaziland, Mozambique, South Africa
  • Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area – Lesotho, South Africa”

Now this is interesting to me because, says the site, “the 9 Countries are united through Nature, Culture and Community,” and because I have always believed that tourists don’t really care about borders.

Especially long-haul tourists.

Hell, if I was planning to fly to the Southern Tip, I’d want to see as much of it as possible – because you can’t just hop-skip-and-jump across the Channel like you can between Europe and Britian.

So the idea of opening up the boundaries between the SADAC Countries is appealing indeed.

Too, I’ve always said that tourism was all about partnerships, and that it’s probably the first of the capitalist economies in that respect. If you’re running a supermarket, it doesn’t matter (in general terms, of course) whether you talk to your competitor across the mall. But if you’re running a guest house in Durban, you need to be friends with the odd bod who’s running the adventure centre next door – because no one in the tourism industry can operate in a vacuum.

It’s the same for tourism destinations, and I’ll never forget the Australian visitor who tackled me on the subject. “Why,” she asked, “are there so many countries in Africa? It’s one continent, after all.”

I mumbled something about our colonial past, but she was right. And the Boundless concept goes some way to addressing her concerns.

The Boundless site goes on to say “Beyond borders, we are free to connect. Beyond barriers, we are open to collaborate. Beyond limitations, the possibilities are infinite.”

And that would make a pretty damned good mantra for tourism industry, don’t you think?

Find out more here.

4th HOSPITALITY, TOURISM & TRADE CONFERENCE

I’ve been asked to advise you that the theme for 4th Chambers Accommodation and Tourism Hospitality & Tourism Conference  (23 – 25 October) will be “Service Please”

“Book early and be part of this annual event at a discounted rate,” said the organisers. “Our rates for attending the conference will not change for 2009. We aim to have a Service Awards program during this event. Enter your establishment and gain more than what you bargained for. Any establishment can take part and non-members are also encouraged to participate. Our Product Partner is EGuest Surv.”

The conference will take place at the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria – and you can download an application form here.

… AND AND APOLOGY

I’ve received many, many mails and even some phone calls about my absence this past few months. And so I apologise for being of the air, so to speak.

My excuse? Health.

But I wasn’t entirely idle while I was down – and to prove it,  have a read of one of my short stories (you can download it here)  – which I completed whilst visiting BD Lodge in Mozambique. (Just remember, though, that, like my novel – which is also available as a free download, this story is protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License.  So you can read it, print it and share it – but you can’t use it for commercial purposes, you may not alter it in any way, and if you do spread it around, you have to acknowledge me as the author).

I’ll have more to say about BD Lodge in a future edition of This Tourism Week.

Jobs in Tourism

Remember to search my Jobs in Tourism page if you’re looking for staff. And if you want to advertise yourself – it’s free. Just send me about 200 words about yourself with all your contact details and I’ll put the word out on your behalf.

… And in the meantime have a GREAT Tourism Week