Archaeo Tourism can create jobs President tells Parliament President Thabo Mbeki has identified human origins as a powerful theme in attracting tourists to South Africa. In his opening speech to the South African parliament on February 4, 2000, Mbeki said that tourism had enormous potential to create jobs in South Africa and that this country's unique prehistory could be used to this end. Mbeki said that while he was at the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, he received a letter from Professor John Parkington of the University of Cape Town and Professor Nicholas Conard of the University of Tubingen in Germany. Mbeki told Parliament that they made the important observation that: "The archaeological record of South Africa, including human fossils, artefacts and organic remains, has an international significance that extends far beyond the country's borders…. Less well known are the hominids that demonstrate the earliest signs of modern people and the treasure trove or rock art sites". Mbeki went on to say that "while correctly pointing to the need to protect this heritage, to which we must surely respond, they also indicate the potential for job creation in the preservation and other activities at the various archaeological sites. "Needless to say, these can also be powerful tourist attractions, thus emphasising the importance raised by the two professors with regard to the challenge of looking after what we have inherited which is as old as the origins of humanity". The Universities of Cape Town and Tubingen are co-operating on an excavation at Geelbek on the Cape West Coast. ©Copyright Prime Origins 2001 CONTACT BRETT HILTON-BARBER primeorigins.co.za is an iafrica.com Private Label site

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