By Boitumelo Shuping:
The Free State’s 2025 summer tourism campaign was launched on Thursday, 6 November, at the Gariep Dam Forever Resort, where MEC for Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Ketso Makume, urged residents to “think local” and support domestic travel as a way to strengthen the provincial economy.
Makume did not only speak about leisure. His message carried a challenge, saying the province’s economic revival depends on how locals value and invest in their own attractions.
Gariep Dam – a tourist gem on its own
Gariep Dam, one of Africa’s largest reservoirs, provided a fitting backdrop for the launch. The site reflects both the promise and the pressure facing the province. Located in the Xhariep District, an area weighed down by unemployment and limited business activity, the dam represents how tourism and economic development can be intertwined to uplift local communities.
Makume called on Free State residents to embrace the province’s untapped tourism potential and to take pride in its hidden gems.
“We are challenging the leadership, from the Premier to MECs, mayors and councillors, and all business people living here and even those staying outside the province that this summer holiday must be spent in the Free State,” he said.
Spend this festive season in the province
“We can’t promote tourism, invite others to come to the Free State to enjoy, whereas we leave and go to Durban or the Western Cape. It makes no sense.”
For the communities living near Gariep, the beauty of the dam contrasts sharply with their daily reality. Many depend on seasonal visitors, yet few sustainable opportunities have been created to ensure that tourism benefits them directly.
A tourism hub in the midst of abject poverty
The area’s poverty highlights a broader issue across the province: the presence of natural and cultural assets that remain economically underused.
The Gariep Dam was completed in 1972 and renamed in 1996 from the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam to “Gariep”, deriving from a Khoi San word (Xhariep) meaning “great, a lot, or everything.” It is a name that mirrors its potential, vast and full of possibility.
Tourism as a vehicle for change – it begins at home
For Makume, tourism is not just about leisure but a vehicle for economic growth and social transformation. “We have to create the space for ourselves first, and then others will follow. Tourism is a vehicle for social change, economic growth, and job creation. But it starts with us, embracing what is in our own backyard,” he said.
By urging residents to “think local”, Makume hopes to shift how Free Staters see their province not only as a place to spend holidays, but as a destination worth investing in.
The summer campaign may be about travel, but at its heart, it is a call to action – to turn local pride into local prosperity. – @NewsSA_Online
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