Sthembiso Dlamini the South African Tourism chief operating officer chats to us about her job and encouraging South Africans to travel in their country.
By Fundiswa Nkwanyana
I’m privileged to have a job that gives me an opportunity to boast about our beautiful South Africa. I love everything about this country from the people, local delicacies, cultural diversity and amazing tourism destinations. Living in this amazing country makes it easier for me to do my job.
Empowering female entrepreneurs in the tourism sector is very important to us. We have an initiative called women in tourism and it objective is to help them flourish in the tourism sector. Once we have identified the women that need help, we then invite them to networking platforms like the Travel Africa Indaba and to informative road shows that will give them in-depth information. It’s important that we help women find leadership positions in the tourism sector.
It’s so exciting to be hosting Africa Travel Indaba which is one of the biggest tourism events. I’m so happy to see people networking, pitching business proposals and showcasing their tourism products to other people in the sector. The atmosphere is vibrant and focused with smiles all around.
I urge my fellow South Africans to travel and see this beautiful county that we live in. Our latest campaign called “It’s Your Country, Enjoy It!” is aimed at encouraging our people to travel and to change the misconception that travelling is expensive. The campaign is for South Africans because it’s important that they see themselves in our campaigns. Going forward we will be working with tourism service providers to ensure that we have travel packages that suit South Africans best. We are also in talks with our neighboring countries to promote travelling within the continent.
