Exploring Makhanda's Hidden Gems with Ottours
Tuesday, 10th September 2024
Operating in a region as historically rich as Makana, Otto Ntshebe sees his role as more than just a guide—he strives to provide immersive experiences that forge deep connections with visitors. His passion for Makhanda’s cultural heritage, alongside a mission to promote it to the world, inspired him to establish Ottours, a BEE tour operator company focused on heritage tourism.
Looking ahead, Otto emphasises the need for stronger local engagement, better maintenance of heritage sites, and strategic international marketing to position Makhanda as a key tourism destination. His ultimate goal: to bring Makhanda’s hidden gems into the global spotlight.
Let’s hear more about his journey and vision for local tourism:
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.
I’m Otto Ntshebe born and bred in Makhanda. Makhanda has a diverse cultural heritage of people who live in it. After thorough research I saw a need to expose this treasure to local and international community.
𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬?
Ottours is a BEE Tour operator company that is promoting and narrating Heritage Tourism and the upcoming generation and abroad.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐚?
It is a lovely thing especially when you are passionate about this area, you interact with your visitors and hidden germs of this historic area.
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝?
Tour Operators should focus on intensive experiences of their tourism attractions infrastructure and have spiritual transfusion with their clients. Therefore, tour operators must go beyond just providing facts. Instead, they should focus on offering deeply immersive, hands-on experiences that the internet can’t replicate. I see the role of tour operators evolving into storytellers who help visitors form emotional connections with destinations.
𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚?
To sustain local tourism is to engage with tourism products constantly and revisit programmes and bring new ventures to revive the industry.
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲?
The authorities don’t value tourism. The Eastern Cape province needs to identify ITOs and DMCs to market the region internationally so that Tourism activities can be a vehicle to drive the economy.
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝? 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡?
Heritage sites should be outsourced for maintenance by community stakeholders or be owned privately. They are likely to have a more vested interest in their upkeep than government bodies. By shifting responsibility closer to those directly connected with the heritage, these sites could receive the attention they deserve.
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲?
I was motivated and stimulated to pursue this career, firstly by my late father and members of my community who assisted me with the research.
Otto Ntshebe was born and raised in the culturally rich city of Makhanda. His tour operator company, Ottours aims to share the area’s heritage treasures with both local and international audiences. Ottours focuses on narrating the stories of Makhanda to both the younger generation and tourists from abroad. To book a tour of Makhanda and the surrounding villages, you can contact Otto on otto.ntshebe@gmail.com or +2782 214 4242.
