South Coast Tourism
Local Government in Port Shepstone

The Ugu District Municipality established Ugu South Coast Tourism (Pty) Ltd as a Municipal Entity as contemplated by Section 86B of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. Ugu South Coast Tourism (Pty) Ltd is a multi-jurisdictional agency.

The aims and objectives of the Ugu South Coast Tourism (Pty) Ltd are to promote tourism growth and development of tourism in the Ugu District Municipality area. UGUSCT aims to develop new tourism initiatives in the hinterland, improve existing tourist attractions and market the region as a premier tourist destination. There is however scope for destinations like ours to not only be very much part of pre and post conference itineraries out of our metros but also to actually be the host destination itself. Associations are usually a collective of constituted businesses, professions and organisations that have membership within a country and often affiliated to international bodies as well. These associations usually have annual general meetings and at times secure an international conference of a rotational basis and this is where the tourism opportunity lies. If an Association Meeting is international in flavour that percentage is higher and many delegates before or after the meeting take leisure time out to see South Africa before returning to their home country. This trip also included delivering many copies of our Southern Explorer Route guide at many tourism offices on the way. Imagine a tourist on one day snow skiing all wrapped up in winter woollies and shortly thereafter bathing comfortably on one of our brilliant beaches and soaking up the warm sun. Another scenario could be that anglers can one day reel in large trout from a pristine mountain stream and then come here and catch a massive game fish along our popular coastline. Great choices thus emerge if we fuse our year round offering with those in the mountain areas of KZN and the Eastern Cape which lie only a few hours away from us. Tourism does not fit geopolitical boundaries so to us by melding our unique offerings with different options elsewhere makes sense. Last week Ugu South Coast Tourism conducted a review of the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) which in essence guides national, provincial and local tourism management strategies and rationales for action. The NTSS strategies cover five pillars namely marketing, access, visitor experience, destination management practices and broad based benefits. Naturally we continue to influence decision makers to improve road and air travel infrastructure to and from our district and keep abreast with the latest social media trends to maximise suitable provision of information for our consumers. Visitor experiences and destination management often go hand in glove and the degree of visitor satisfaction is largely dependent on the quality of service equated to the experiential promise. Generally our visitors do go home with a high level of satisfaction. Destination management concerns decision making and maintenance of public amenities and tourism support infrastructure. Here, surveys show that there is a constant need to keep amenities in a good condition and regularly upgrade facilities where needed. Can you imagine that in order to make some savings in a depressed economy the majority of local South Coast residents decided not to travel elsewhere at year end and to host family and friends here? This being said and on the assumption that most do gel pretty well then where better to celebrate good memories and great leisure times than at the South Coast? We have such a diversity of sites, experiences and attractions on offer that any family dynamic can be accommodated from young to old and that is the beauty of our product spectrum. Howard Kelly who sits on our Board recently jumped into a helicopter in order to take visuals and geo-plot key elements of the proposed trail and his initial observations indicate our inland areas have pockets of outstanding cultural, natural and scenic value. It appears that part of the trail area in the valley system involves some really impressive and precipitous river gorges with waterfalls and vegetated landscapes which in due course can be presented to our outdoor markets and have a great educational value as well. So often when one lives in areas that have outstanding tourism assets (in our case the beaches and ocean) one can lose sight of the richness of other terrestrial and heritage orientated assets inland.