The Western Cape’s provincial conservation authority, CapeNature, has been boosted by the R3.7m (€180 500) upgrades – funded by the National Department of Tourism (NDT) – at the Wolwekloof Resort near Ceres.

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille handed over upgrades to the picnic area, walkways and pools just before Christmas. Wolwekloof is one of five tourism projects under the NDT CapeNature partnership and was officially handed over to CapeNature in June 2019 to operate as a tourism facility.

The resort was one of the few facilities that people of colour could visit during the apartheid era, but was closed to the public and converted into a provincial fire-fighter training centre.

“We welcomed the opportunity to manage Wolwekloof as a tourism facility with enthusiasm and pledged our full commitment to restore the site,” said CapeNature CEO, Razeena Omar. “We appreciate the financial support from the National Department of Tourism, which hugely contributed towards the reinstatement of this resort as a tourism gem. It is collaborations like this that help to boost the Western Cape tourism economy, offering holidaymakers even more travel choices.”

Water and electricity upgrades still need to be completed, with the resort due to open later this year.

Over the last ten years CapeNature has focused on crafting facilities and activities within the eco-tourism sector. To this end a number of developments have been undertaken to optimise income generation for biodiversity conservation; optimise shared growth and economic benefits to contribute to national and provincial tourism strategies and transform the tourism operations within CapeNature and strengthen existing and developing new products to especially provide broader access for all people.

“Tourism is a key sector in our economy, injecting billions into the economy each year and providing much-needed jobs for our people. We must therefore continue to work with urgency and work as partners to grow our tourism offering so that we attract more tourists to our beautiful country. The more tourists we welcome, the more investment and jobs the tourism sector can create,” said Minister de Lille.

CapeNature’s tourism performance post COVID-19 has been improving despite the global impact of the pandemic. The 2021/22 financial year saw the entity bounce back with an impressive 18.6% growth in revenue compared with the previous year.

The 2022/23 financial year once again resulted in a 20% growth in revenue demonstrating year-on-year growth and a 43% increase in visitor numbers.

The Wolwekloof Resort project is part of the Department’s funded provincial state-owned assets maintenance programme.

The Department entered into a partnership agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa in November 2020 to implement and manage the delivery of various infrastructure projects across the country.

These projects included the maintenance and beautification of provincial state-owned attractions which are part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme. These projects are in line with the objectives of the Tourism Sector Master Plan to stimulate demand by investing in tourist attractions to build and diversify tourism offerings.

In total, R17.3 million (€844 100) has been spent on infrastructure projects in the Western Cape – in the Cederberg, Kogelberg, Goukamma and Lookout Hill nature reserves.