While Gauteng might not be endowed with traditional tourism offerings like the mountains and the ocean, the golden thread that characterises this destination is its people in their different settings and in numbers – all 15.5 million. The festive summer campaign covering the months of December 2023 till February 2023 is intended to dial-up the profile of Gauteng as a leading bleisure destination, increase tourism revenue, arrivals, domestic trips, and bed nights during this busy and festive period. These includes the province’s bumper events calendar covering community creative, sporting, cultural and holidays programme, sights, sounds and tastes of Gauteng, township tourism, responsible trading and practices and residents and visitors’ safety.
The hey Neighbour Festival scheduled for the 8-10 December 2023 at the Legends Adventure Farm in Pretoria – outside the province’s big 5 Game Reserve of Dinokeng – is primed to be the biggest outdoor festival in South Africa this year with over 40,000 revelers in attendance each day. “As the golden province of Gauteng, we are happy and excited to be the official home to this groundbreaking and catalytic event. It being staged in South Africa’s capital city and offering totally unique experiences and diverse line-up for every taste and budget, becomes natural for us to leverage this platform and use it as a launching pad for our festive summer campaign”, explains Gauteng Tourism Authority CEO Sthembiso Dlamini.
The festive summer ena’lanto eGauteng represents an expression of the dynamic link between the province’s creative and sporting sector’s prowess and its tourism offerings for nuclear families, residents who are inspired to be tourists in their own backyard and African land and air travelers looking for inspiration, latest Christmas and festive shopping and fashion trends or overseas visitors running away from the cold weather while following their global artists to the birthplace of humanity.
“We are acting on the Premier’s direct to pump Gauteng’s economy from every angle, guided by the drive to create sustainable jobs, curb youth unemployment, and retool our 10 high-growth sectors which includes the sports, creative, tourism and hospitality sectors,” reiterated Gauteng MEC for Economic Development Tasneem Motara.
Entertainment and hospitality is an important sector for a lifestyle destination like Gauteng. The consistent staging of world-class mega events like hey Neighbour, Delicious Festival, Gospel Awards, Moretele Jazz, Golden West, Keinemusik, Ultra Fest SA etc. and usage of our worldclass integrated infrastructure as an economic catalyst positions Gauteng better and makes it an attractive destination for regional, local, and international visitation mainly driven by visiting friends and relatives (VFR) business events, shopping and lifestyle and the need to be where things are happening daily.
“Powering this campaign this festive will be the Gauteng school holiday’s programme with a focus on public and private water parks to beat off the heatwave, community kasi diski games, responsible drinking, driving and gambling messaging and call to action, residents and visitors’ safety and digital gig-guide to heighted the musical and events scene ena’lanto”, emphasised Dlamini. For more information on the Gauteng bumper festive summer events, specials, attractions, and general responsible practices download the Visit Gauteng travel guide mobile – app.gauteng.net on google play and IOS platforms.
