South Africa highlights tourism investment opportunities, woos Nigerian investors

South Africa is providing a wide range of investment opportunities in its rich tourism sector to stakeholders in the Nigeria tourism industry.

South Africa’s Acting Consul-General to Nigeria, Kgothatso Xulu, noted that both South Africa and Nigeria have strong diplomatic ties spanning from the apartheid era when Nigeria fought for the liberation of the country from the white minority imperialists.

The idea of the forum is to bring the two countries together for business cooperation. South Africa is the largest tourist destination in Africa offering huge opportunities hospitality, hotel, wildlife and telecommunications services.

Nigeria played a leading role in giving both financial and diplomatic support to Nelson Mandela’s liberation struggle against racism that ended in 1992 after his release from 27 years of imprisonment.

She explained that the event was designed to provide a platform to present business opportunities for Nigerian businessmen to tap into the country’s tourism sector ranging from trade, education, hospitality and telecommunication.

The foreign diplomat stressed that the South Africa embassy in Nigeria, over the years, has played a pivotal role in fostering business relationships between both countries, as it encourages, supports and facilitates a collaboration between the duo nations.

She cited the South African Exim Bank, Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) as such organisations providing financial and telecommunication impacting economic development of Nigeria. Xulu indicated her country’s interest in offering real estate, cultural exchange and cousine services.

She highlighted the abundant tourism potential of South Africa for Nigerian investors, and that the country encourages business organisations in Nigeria to choose South Africa as a key destination in Africa.

She called for strengthening of tourism and business opportunities between the nations to expand and boost their diplomatic relationship, while urging the stakeholders to use the opportunities in South Africa to stimulate growth and generate employment for African people.

The South African diplomat stressed the need to strengthen business and diplomatic relationships between the duo countries for mutually beneficial opportunities.

She tasked both Nigeria and South Africa to work hard to position Africa as a destination for tourism considering the huge tourist opportunities in the continent.

In his business presentation, Thekiso Rakolojane, Regional Head, South Africa Tourism, West Africa Hub, noted that both his country and Nigeria have come a long way in diplomatic relationship in business. The two countries have good relationships and are open to collaborations.

He said that South Africa is open to business with Nigeria in every sphere of the economy.

“South Africa is open to business with Nigeria.

We want to do business with Nigerians in banking, tourism, telecommunications. Sports is also available for exploration,” Rakolojane said.

He highlighted different offerings from each of the nine provinces that make up South Africa; Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West Western Cape, amid their economic and cultural peculiarities.

According to Rakolojane, each of the country’s provinces showcases the eclectic nature of the variety of experiences that South Africa offers to its tourists, saying that South Africa is willing to collaborate in business and investments.

On tourism, the country offers luxury hotels, wildlife, sports, among. It has conference halls with over two thousand capacity to host conferences for foreigners willing to go to South Africa for business engagements.

The event opened a platform for the attendant guests to network and exchange business information among themselves as they look forward to making the best of business opportunities offered by the South African mission in Nigeria.