SETE aims to promote golf tourism in SA

29 Oct 2015

The fifth annual Sports & Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) is currently underway at the Protea Hotel Fire and Ice! in Menlyn, Pretoria.

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The Department of Tourism has joined SETE as an event partner with the vision of promoting golf tourism in South Africa as a key sports tourism industry.

"The Department of Tourism has identified sport, and in particular, golf, as a revenue-rich niche tourism opportunity. By aligning tourism and sports, we are able to package our nature, wildlife, unique cultures, and warm people to provide visiting sport enthusiasts with an enriching travel experience that they would not find easily anywhere else in the world. Sport is also big business," said Deputy Minister for Tourism, Tokozile Xasa.

"Not only the lucrative deals made by the world's top players and their managers, but also because of the millions of sport fans who travel across borders to watch their favourite players and teams. The 2015 Sports and Events Tourism Exchange is the platform for engagement for many of these global events."

SMEs invited

The Department of Tourism will enable small and medium enterprises to join the conference and be part of the debate. SASCOC, another event partner, will also invite sport federations to attend SETE 2015 and form part of the information exchange.

This year the following themes will be focused on:

Growing South Africa's golf tourism sector;

importance of school sport and the opportunities for the tourism sector;

lessons that Durban/South Africa can learn from Commonwealth Games host destinations in preparing to host the Games;

the use of technology in improving the performance of our athletes;

the commercial viability and sustainability of event venues; and

the marketing trends of major events - a global perspective.

The SETE 2015 conference format involves a series of panel discussions with key stakeholders, and decision makers, headed by local and international sector leaders as speakers and session facilitators.