• Property for sale

The Free State tourism sector is markedly underdeveloped compared to metropolitan foreign tourist traffic in some other provinces. Only 5 % of the 1.4 million overseas tourists to visit South Africa annually come to the Free State (70 000 tourists). They stayed an average of five nights in the province and represented less than 2 % of the nearly 3 million tourists who visited the Free State per year. However, the R105 million they do spend in the Free State, accounts for 17 % of the provinces total tourism revenue per year. By contrast, the 2.8 million South African citizens to visit the Free State annually represents 98.6 % of total visitors to the province and spend R513m, which accounts for only 83 % of annual provincial tourism revenue. The investment and entrepreneurial potential still to be developed in the Free State tourism industry, is simply tremendous. This section offers but a mere keyhole peep.

Local, national, and international trends are supportive of expanding the hotel and resort industry in the Free State, especially in the moderate and up-market segments of the market. Development of casino resorts in the province, however, is limited to a total of four licensed casinos. International trends in particular generally favor large projects as recipients of foreign direct investment. Smaller and low-budget hotels and resorts will be more difficult to promote to all but a few potential foreign investors.

The following four projects have been identified as immediate tourism investment prospects in the Free State:

• Qwa Qwa Resort. An up-market tourist hotel/resort with access to eco-tourism offerings in the vicinity of Golden Gate Park and surrounding nature reserves, and cultural tourism attractions such as the Basotho Cultural Village and rural fairs and agricultural festivals in towns such as Ficksburg and Bethlehem.
• Riverside development on the Vaal River. Multi-use complex including hotel, retail facilities, office facilities, and a casino (subject to issuance of a license) that will exploit tourism and amusement attractions on the Vaal River and enjoy proximity to the Gauteng market.
• Family resorts. Privatization and further development of the Aventura resorts at Midwaters, Aldam, and Maselspoort, and/or the construction of moderately priced hotels/resorts at alternative sites near Free State dam reservoirs as family-oriented recreational resorts aimed primarily at South African holiday-makers.
• Alternative and eco-tourism. Game and hunting lodge facilities should be developed and expanded in various areas, complete with restaurants and tourism support services (ground and air transportation, outfitting of supplies, guide services). Adventure and eco-tourism facilities (horseback riding, bicycle trails, Jeep tours) should be promoted in the QwaQwa area. Other facilities (steam trains, historical sites) should continue to be developed where such sites are located, particularly in the scenic Eastern Free State along the Bethlehem-Bloemfontein road and rail lines, and the road and rail lines along the Modderpoort-Ladybrand-Maseru corridor.