South Africans need to explore their country

I don't know about you, but i love to travel and anything else associated with travelling. There are a number of tourists attractions in SA such as Table mountain, Drakensberg, The winelands just to name a few. These attractions are what make SA to be a vibrant and diverse country. Ordinary South African citizens often hear about these places, but the question is, how many of us ordinary South Africans actually visit these places?


table mountain night time



The Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk once called on South Africans to be tourists in their own country and to experience what millilons of international tourists are drawn to. He said that South Africans need to experience the sheer beauty of their land, its rich culture and heritage, and the warmth and hospitality of their fellow citizens.

 I find it very interesting that he made this call yet there are not permanent measures put in place to help South Africans to expore their country. It seems as though Tourism South Africa would much rather advertise our country internationally than help it's own people to explore and learn about Mzansi.

 Looking back, there was once the Sho't Left campaign but it soon filtered away after a year or so and no one bothered to bring something else to the table. I personally think that by not having such campaigns, we citizens don't get as much encouragement as international tourists do. Therefore leading to us having less knowledge about  our country and its heritage. We lose so much interest in our country that all we focus on is the negative things such as crime, poverty and unemployement.

So I think it's about time that we shove all those negative thoughts in the closet and start packing good thoughts and excitement for the road ahead. If the government doesn't do it for us, I am pretty sure that we can do it for ourselves because it is our country after all.