Boundless Southern Africa offers tourism investment opportunities in nine countries
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:05
Nine Southern African countries have developed the Boundless Southern African brand as a means of showcasing their various transfrontier conservation areas. They are united through their passion for nature, culture and community. Through Boundless, these countries offer tourists so much more in terms of experiencing wildlife and scenic beauty in pristine destinations. Boundless also affords tourists the opportunity to engage directly with local communities and learn about their culture, history and sustained conservation of the environment and cultural heritage.
Boundless Southern Africa is a forward-thinking marketing initiative that promotes seven transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) within southern Africa to potential investors and tourists around the world. A TFCA is defined as the area or component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries, encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas. What makes the concept so progressive is that it is marketed in terms of ecosystems and not in terms of political or geographical boundaries. It unites African nations as viable and worthy collective tourist destinations and thereby boosts economic growth. It also promotes greater collaboration between African countries when it comes to conserving and protecting this continent’s rich and extraordinary environments, nature, heritage and cultures.
Launched at the 2008 Tourism Indaba in Durban, Boundless Southern Africa is the marketing brand chosen by nine southern African countries to represent some of the best tourism products the region has to offer, namely:
- /Ai-/Ais – Richtersveld Transfrontier Park – South Africa, Namibia
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Botswana, South Africa
- Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area – Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe
- Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area – Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
- Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park – Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe
- Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area – Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland
- Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area – Lesotho, South Africa
Many of Southern Africa’s biggest attractions including key anchor tourist products such as the mighty Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta and the Fish River Canyon occur in TFCAs, making them one of Africa’s unique selling points.
The main objective of the Boundless Southern Africa brand is to increase the tourism potential of Southern Africa by consolidating the marketing, infrastructure development and investment promotion efforts of existing transfrontier initiatives.
The unifying brand will also form the basis for awareness-raising campaigns and active marketing of TFCAs throughout the region and globally.
One of the current constraints for tourism growth in the SADC region is lack of investment, due to limited awareness among the international community about opportunities in the region, and a lack of packaged and ready to go investments.
To this extent the region has packaged more than 50 investment opportunities in the various countries under the Boundless Southern Africa brand, ranging from small and medium lodge type developments to multi-million rand developments such as the Katima Mulilo Waterfront Development in the Kavango-Zambezi TFCA.
For further information about Boundless Southern Africa and the investment opportunities in TFCAs:
Deborah Kahatano, programme manager
Email: dkahatano@environment.gov.za
Tel: +27 12 310 3734
www.boundlesssa.com
For more information and Investment Opportunities, click here
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