Business and Arts South Africa debuts exciting cultural tourism initiative

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“BASA's mandate is to act as a bridge between the business and arts sectors as a way of helping each one achieve optimal benefits from their partnerships,” comments BASA CEO, Michelle Constant.

“The tourism platform that is being developed for us is premised on the belief that arts and cultural tourism can create greater job opportunities, self-employment and entrepreneurship in both the cultural and tourism sectors. It also provides an excellent opportunity to promote South African culture both locally and internationally.”

The beta phase of artstourism.guru is built around arts festival mapping and links with nearby star-graded accommodation to deliver an immersive experience for culture-hungry travellers.

In time, artstourism.guru will include art galleries, museums, architectural landmarks, theatres and many other arts, heritage and entertainment attractions – creating an integrated tourist ecosystem with greater economic potential and benefits. The aim of the platform is to be a one-stop destination for those wanting to integrate the creative economy of the country into their tourism business or their tourism experience.

“Our presence at Indaba 2016 is intended to introduce the artstourism.guru platform to the tourism market and also to spotlight the importance of arts, heritage and entertainment to the overall experience being offered to tourists,” says Constant.

One of the categories in the 19th Annual BASA Awards partnered by Hollard and Business Day is the Cultural Tourism Award, supported by Nedbank, which recognises business support of public arts and culture projects which contribute towards the growth of communities and jobs, and support the opportunities provided by local tourism.

BASA is also using Indaba 2016 to get feedback on artstourism.guru, and cultural tourism in general, from participants on all sides of the tourism equation as it moves forward into the next phase of the platform’s design.

“We are very keen to explore partnerships and hope that we can support the conversation in geolocation-based regional tourism moving forward,” concludes Constant.

About BASA (NPC):

Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) is an internationally recognised South African development agency with a suite of integrated programmes implemented nationally and internationally. BASA encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts, securing the future development of the arts sector in South Africa and contributing to corporate success through Shared Value. Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector as a public/private partnership. For more information on Business and Arts South Africa contact us on 011 447 2295 or visit our website: www.basa.co.za.