Soweto tourism businesses and relevant stakeholders gathered for its first Tourism Safety Forum for 2024 this month to identify challenges faced with safety and environment, discuss possible solutions, and to agree on an implementable joint programme to keep the precincts clean and safe for all visitors.

The forum also focused on the role clarification of the different stakeholders within the Soweto tourism community, and the establishment of a Tourism Safety and Environment Desk.

“The Soweto Tourism Safety Forum engages with relevant stakeholders on a quarterly basis to look at the loops that are there and seek solutions to close them. It is one of our initiatives that resulted from the Soweto Investment Conference 2023 at the Johannesburg Nasrec Expo Centre where we discussed different economic issues,” said Thato Mothopeng, National Coordinator at South African Township and Village Tourism Association, and Chairperson of Soweto Tourism.

He told Tourism Update that within the tourism space, one of these issues was safety and environment. The safety forum acted as a platform to discuss all the stakeholders’ different roles and responsibilities in keeping Soweto safe and clean.

The stakeholders that gathered at the safety forum were:

• The community which represents the different precincts – Vilakazi Precinct, Kliptown Precinct, Immink Drive, Central Western Jabavu (June 16/ Credo Mutwa Cultural Village/Soweto Theatre), Meadowlands Tourism Development Centre, Phiri Mapetla, and Rockville Tourism.
• The municipality in the form of Joburg Tourism.
• The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department.
• South African Police Service.
• Gauteng's crime prevention wardens, Amapanyaza Green Jackets.
• The Johannesburg Department of Environmental Health.
• Pikitup, Johannesburg’s official waste management service provider.
• Johannesburg City Parks.

“With Soweto being one of the critical tourism key points in greater Johannesburg, we find it very important to allow the local people to look after it. We’ve engaged with local stakeholders to deal with issues of crime and the environment. We want to make sure that the tourists are safe when they visit Soweto and that the environment is welcoming,” Mothopeng added.

Tourism Safety and Environment Desk

Mothopeng noted that the Soweto community had come up with a solution to establish a Tourism Safety and Environment Desk to ensure that it had a centralised platform that would communicate with relevant stakeholders in the event of a tourism-related issue, such as petty crime.

“We want to make sure that, if anything happens, tourists and tour operators receive quick assistance from the community and relevant role players.”

Industry and tourists can use the following contact details to report crime and environment issues:

Soweto Tourism Call Centre: 065 920 9718

Safety Representative Nkuli Gova: 079 797 6937

Collaborate to create local employment

Mothopeng encouraged the tourism industry to employ local guides when they visit Soweto, “because it is the local people who know who is who, where to go, and what not to do”.

“One of our messages to the industry is to utilise local people for guiding in Soweto. Not only for safety, but for responsible tourism practices. One top of that, the benefit is the authentic stories, which is what tourists are looking for. We are therefore hoping to collaborate with industry, for example tour operators, to develop more local guides that speak to their consumer needs,” he said

Environmental conservation

Soweto now has environmental officers that will be assisting in making sure that businesses are up to standard and that they offer environmentally acceptable food services, whether it is a street vendor, restaurant or B&B.

Furthermore, Soweto wants to ensure cleanliness of the environment, and has started copying a model from Greater Alexandra Tourism and Heritage Association to clean up its waterways and rivers.

“We are copying Alexandra Tourism because they are doing a really good job with cleaning up the Jukskei River around Sandton. We are working closely with them on that aspect of conservation and nature, to incorporate what we learn from them into Soweto,” Mothopeng explained.

Tourism growing

He revealed that tourism was growing in Soweto and picking up in terms of visitor stats, although it needed to expand on overnight stays.

“We have a huge American market that is constantly in the overnight space, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, and a nice growing market from South America. However, we need to find a way to establish key strategic partnerships with tour operators, because most of the market is still held by tour operators coming in and driving through Soweto.”

Mothopeng concluded that domestic travellers had always been a strong market for Soweto due to its urban lifestyle. “The growth is evident when compared with the COVID-19 pandemic, but now we need to expand."