THRIVE ISSUE 5 DECEMBER 2024 10 By Beaulah Mosupye | Founder & CEO, Hauweng Tourism for All Society Why does this matter all this matter? One would ask. These events and others but mainly these would go on to shape the society we become. It all led to that special day in 1994 and the context for tourism’s segregated development, recovery and now the endeavour for inclusive development. 1898 Sabie game reserve is established which later in 1926 becomes Kruger National Park and remains one of South Africa’s major attractions. 1907 marks the establishment of the first international SA Railway office (later to become SATOUR) to market the Cape Colony as the Health Resort of Europe due to favourable weather which was found to be therapeutic. It’s safe to say perhaps these were the early days of medical tourism. 1910 the political shifts between the British and Dutch resulted in a political settlement and the establishment of the Union of SA to the exclusion of natives precipitating the formalisation of the struggle for liberation with the founding of the South African National Natives Congress (SANNC) - established to To celebrate 30 years of democracy in South Africa requires a journey back in time to fully appreciate the historical feat that was 1994 and what it meant for the tourism sector. There is the old adage tourism follows trade. In this regard we can go to 1652 with the arrival of the Dutch East India Company in the at present day Cape of Good Hope to set up a halfway house that would serve as a replenishing stations for their trading ships going to the east. Apart from the fresh fruit and meat, the weather soon became a key attraction which saw the shores of this new outpost receiving more visitors who settled, and as they would say the rest is history. Politics that takes us through the great trek, interior wars, Mfecane, struggle for liberation, and many other events that would come to mould the destinations’ narrative as we know it today. Key events that are worth noting in the development of tourism in South Africa can be chronicled as follows: 30 Years of Democracy: A Tourism& Hospitality Lens A journey through time...
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