OVERVIEW Tourism Golf is
OVERVIEW Tourism Golf is drawing attention to Limpopo. A second Limpopo Youth Tourism Summit was held in Thohoyandou in 2024, gathering more than 50 young tourism entrepreneurs from all five districts of the province. Hosted by the Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) and designed to pass on business skills, the event follows the inaugural summit held in Burgersfort in 2023. Levering on the success of the annual Limpopo Championship, a golf tournament which is hosted by the LTA and held at the Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate that has become a fixture on the Sunshine Tour and attracts top competitors, LTA invited the province’s top young golfers to Koro Creek Bushveld Golf Estate for the Limpopo Youth Championship. Participants will be guests at the 2025 playing of the R2-million Limpopo Championship, which is normally held in April. The northern parts of the province are experiencing a boom in business tourism due to the uptick in mining operations and the preparations being made for the development of a major economic development in the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone. In another part of the Vhembe District Municipality, the African Century Group is building a four-star Premier Hotel at Thohoyandou and the team behind the venture expects to fill its 120 rooms. The Vhembe District has a host of attractions and is connected to the northern section of the Kruger National Park via the Punda Maria gate. Elsewhere in the district are sacred lakes, the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site and many baobab trees of legend. In the Waterberg area, Shekinah Lion and Game Lodge has made an initial investment of R60-million in a luxury ecotourism facility which offers walks with cheetahs among its many attractions. The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) is responsible for 53 provincial nature reserves. Some Limpopo nature reserves are to be commercialised using private-public partnerships. Among the first reserves to be part of the programme are Masebe, Rust deWinter and Lekgalameetse. Three major national parks – Kruger National Park, Mapungubwe in the north and Marakele in the Waterberg – are run by South African National Parks (SANParks) and attract large ONLINE RESOURCES Limpopo Tourism Agency: www.golimpopo.com Marula Festival: www.limpopomarulafest.co.za South African National Parks: www.sanparks.org SECTOR INSIGHT Tourism entrepreneurs are getting support. The Limpopo Tourism Agency arranges roadshows for tour operators. numbers of tourists every year. The province’s private game reserves and lodges enjoy a reputation for luxury and excellence of service that attracts tens of thousands of international visitors. The combined land area of Limpopo’s national, provincial and private game and nature reserves is 3.6-million hectares. The Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety is working on a strategy to develop the Hoedspruit Airport to boost the tourism sector. The airport is conveniently sited for access to the Orpen Gate of the Kruger National Park, Klaserie Game Reserve, Timbavati Game Reserve, Thornybush Game Reserve and others. ■ LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2024/25 38 50 PHOTO: LTA
OVERVIEW Transport and logistics Partnerships are building bridges. OVERVIEW SECTOR INSIGHT SANRAL has taken over 19 provincial roads. Eight mining companies are partnering with Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) in the building of a new steel bridge at Ga-Malekane in the Sekhukhune District Municipality. Construction of the bridge, designed to replace the old singlelane structure, is well advanced and traffic along the D2219 road, an important link to the mining town of Steelpoort, should flow more freely from November 2024. The 99-year-old steel bridge will be retained as a pedestrian facility. Several other roads and bridges in various parts of the province, one of which is pictured, are being constructed or rehabilitated by RAL. Other examples of collaboration are RAL arrangements with Northam Platinum, who are providing R41-million to enhance a bridge and upgrade a road in the Waterberg area, Implats helping with the road to its Marula mine and Palabora Mining Company contributing R100-million to projects in its area of operation to rehabilitate and upgrade roads. A major project since democracy came to South Africa and Limpopo has been to convert gravel roads to tar. Many rural areas have had their links with urban areas strengthened by the tarring programme. The current target is to convert a total of 13 800km to tar surfaces. It was announced in 2024 that the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) will take over 19 provincial roads, reducing the load on the provincial department and bringing economies of scale to projects. ONLINE RESOURCES Gateway Airports Authority Limited: www.gaal.co.za Limpopo Department of Transport: www.ldot.gov.za Roads Agency Limpopo: www.ral.co.za Not only is the N1 one of the major national highways, connecting South Africa as it does to Zimbabwe and countries beyond, there are also several other important regional highways in the province. One of these is the R71, which connects the provincial capital of Polokwane with the Kruger National Park and passes through the towns of Tzaneen and Phalaborwa. It is also the road that carries tens of thousands of members of the St Engenas Zion Christian Church (ZCC) who visit the village of Moria in the Easter period and again for a festival in September. SANRAL and RAL have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to cooperate on the construction of a new interchange on the R71 national road. The D4020, the minor road which will also be made a dual carriageway as part of this project, is maintained by RAL. A provincial government campaign to improve road has seen the appointment of 274 road safety ambassadors whose task is to safeguard pedestrians and improve the flow of traffic during peak hours. New residential and catering facilities have been built at the refurbished Limpopo Traffic College. Over a five-year period, the Shova Kalula bicycle project has distributed 2 197 bicycles to school pupils in rural areas. ■ LIMPOPO PHOTO: RALBUSINESS 2024/25 56 39 LIMPOPO BUSINESS PHOTO: 2024/25 RAL
