CRUISE INDUSTRY TO SPARK GREATER CULTURAL TOURISM IN BUFFALO CITY

The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), in partnership with Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), hosted a Cruise Line Itinerary Development Workshop in April 2022 at the Blue Lagoon Hotel.

The objectives of this workshop were to provide background information on the nature of the cruise line industry and how to best package this industry’s experiences for the local tourism sector. This meant identifying new cruise itinerary options for the Buffalo City region to spark greater cultural tourism and diversify the singular popular game reserves option on offer.

Akorn Destination Management’s Director of Cruise Sales and Projects, Paul Bruning said there is a renewed focus on the Eastern Cape’s potential cruise industry and the province has been identified as South Africa’s heartland from a cultural perspective. In the past, Akorn Destination Management has used the Eastern Cape for its Malaria-free Game Reserves.

“There has been a bigger focus on cultural elements. We need to celebrate the history and culture of this region and put that into a touring package so that we can get more cruise ships to spend longer periods here,” said Bruning.

In seeking to address unemployment Bruning highlighted tourism as one of the fastest ways to increase employment opportunities.

“Every tourist that visits a place generates at least six jobs, so the more people we get visiting the Eastern Cape, the more people who get employed,” said Bruning, as he further listed the potential opportunities that guiding, which is very strong in the province, can bring in.

“I urge young people to get involved, guiding is a great step. Once you have been a guide, you understand the guests, you understand how tourism works and you can go on and develop your businesses. From guiding it is quite easy. But I need to see a representation, especially from young black people in the guiding fraternity. Now, it is very skewed towards white people. Which is not representative of where we are as a country,” said Bruning, while encouraging young people to get into guide training programmes.

The Border-Kei Chamber of Business’s Executive Director, Lizelle Maurice, added that there was a need to streamline cruise industry offerings in Buffalo City and ensure that they are well-marketed to the general public.

“A lot of suppliers have fallen out of this industry. Part of these roadshows is to try and stimulate new businesses to offer mentorship programmes and help. Not just financial help, but mentorship to get businesses on their feet and back into the industry.”

The workshop was well-received by those in attendance, including tourism guides, traders and ECPTA stakeholders, citing that they were happily anticipating the Eastern Cape’s cruise industry development.