TOURISM KZN
The Drakensberg Mountains
KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa's leading domestic destination. Here visitors are spoilt for choice. With all year around warm weather the province easily combines adventure with relaxation in a wide range of world-class activities and experiences from the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg to the north and south coasts.
Where else can one spot majestic whales and dolphins frolicking off the coast or witness one of the world's most famous marine phenomena. Annually millions of sardines migrate into colder waters and are pursued by sharks, dolphins, seals, cormorants and gulls.
Indulge in a myriad of wildlife experiences from private to community owned game reserves and take the opportunity to see the big six - lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino and whales in the space of a day in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
Climb or walk the trails of the majestic uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, visit historic towns and battlefields or wind through the Midlands' eclectic mix of arts, crafts and restaurants.
Adrenaline junkies can find their fix in adventure activities including: abseiling at Oribi Gorge, one of the world's highest gorges, white water rafting on the Umzimkulu, Tugela, Injasuti and Bushmans Rivers, diving among ragged-tooth sharks at the Aliwal Shoal or extreme hiking or mountain biking.
KwaZulu-Natal is also a sportsman's paradise and among its facilities are some of the country's finest golf courses including Durban Country Club, Prince's Grant, Zimbali, and Selbourne.
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) has the many and varied jewels of the province sharply in its sights. As the destination marketing organization for the province TKZN is determined to ensure that KwaZulu-Natal maintains its lion share of the domestic market while boosting its international image so as to increase interest in, and visits to the province.
Given the value of word-of-mouth destination marketing TKZN has placed a premium on improving visitor experiences in the Zulu Kingdom. Through its Service Excellence Campaign and Awards (pioneered in 2002) that showcases tourism's best practice the organisation aims to encourage tourism industry players to improve service delivery.
TKZNsubscribes to the view that excellent service, matched by an equally welcoming environment, will motivate happy tourists to recommend the
destination to friends, families and colleagues once. This will also result in repeat visits, which is critical in the diversifying of product offerings.
In its striving for excellence TKZN recently became an affiliate member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO), a spin-off of winning the 2007 UNWTO Ulysses Award for innovation in tourism governance in the field of information and knowledge management. TKZN will participate in the activities of the Destination Council of the UNWTO, which includes its Centre of Destination Management Excellence. Currently this council is setting important new standards that will measure the effectiveness of individual destination management organisations.
