Government has invested about R152 million to develop astro-tourism but there is huge funding gap of about R150 million that must be closed.
“We hope that the initial government investment will further unlock about R18 billion in investment, which is just under US$1bn,” said Amos ‘Fish’ Mahlalela, Deputy Minister of Tourism,speaking at the Tourism Investment Conference Africa conference held at Kanoneiland near Upington in the Northern Cape last week.
The Northern Cape, is home to the South African part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, the biggest radio telescope in the world.
The inaugural conference, organised by Millvest, was held to showcase trade and tourism investment opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and highlight and address challenges, trends and benchmark best practices.
Mahlalela lauded the organisers for choosing Upington as its destination of choice for the event in line with Government’s objective to prioritise underdeveloped areas with high tourism potential for investment.
“This will go a long way in promoting the Northern Cape as a MICE destination,” said the Deputy Minister, adding that the province had huge potential to develop great tourism offerings, including astro-tourism.
“This great province is home to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and shares that honour with the state of Western Australia. A BBC journalist once dubbed this one of the grandest scientific projects of the 21st Century.
“It is worth noting that the SKA, when complete, will be the largest radio telescope in the world, split between South Africa and Australia with headquarters in the United Kingdom.”
Mahlalela said it was a classic case of North-South collaboration when two developed countries (United Kingdom and Australia) shared infrastructure and expertise with a developing country (South Africa).
“This SKA initiative does not only include the three countries mentioned; it is also a true global initiative with a number of other countries involved. Once completed by the mid-2020s, the SKA will be the world’s most sensitive radio telescope, able to observe the universe in fine detail across multiple wavelengths.
“It is against this background that both the Department of Tourism and the Department of Science and Innovation have collaborated on the National Astro-Tourism Strategy in order to find ways of taking advantage of travel and leisure opportunities that are unlocked by South Africa’s hosting of the SKA,” explained Mahlalela, noting that government was planning an SKA Visitors’ Centre.
South Africa’s National Astro-Tourism Strategy pointed out that “50% of the world’s population cannot see the beauty of the night sky but the African sky remains at an advantage, by having the clearest and darkest night sky.
“Our underdevelopment has become our competitive advantage and the continent needs to benefit from the opportunities brought about by astro-tourism due to the low levels of industrialisation.
“We therefore need to use our weakness as a strength to develop new industries working with institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and including development finance institutions and the private sector to take advantage of commercial opportunities that will be unlocked by these government-driven initiatives,” said Mahlalela.
