Henties Bay Tourism Association.....

During 1999 the Advisory Planning Committee of Henties Bay (APC), (formed in terms of the Local Authorities Act of 1992 to identify shortcomings and advise the Management Committee of the Henties Bay Town Council on possible solutions), tabled their proposals in which they emphasized the importance of an effective tourism structure for Henties Bay.

This led to the establishment of the Henties Bay Tourism Association (HBTA) at a public founding meeting on 16 June 1999. At the same meeting the constitution of the Association, jointly compiled by the APC and the Henties Bay Town Council, was approved.  Seven members of the public were elected for the Executive Committee while the Mayor and the Chairman of the Management Committee of the Council automatically served as members.  In these early stages and the newly appointed Tourism Officer of the Municipality automatically served as the secretary of the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee immediately commenced its duties by identifying various tourist attractions.  Four 4x4 day routes were identified and mapped with GPS coordinates and the tourist officer compiled an information booklet for each route. A promotional pamphlet was designed, accentuating angling and the 4x4 desert routes as the main attractions and a tourism website was developed and registered.  For the first few years all the funding was provided by the Municipality and Henties Bay was advertised in various tourism publications as a valuable holiday town worth visiting.

Although the Executive Committee of the Association does not automatically include the Mayor and the Chairman of the Management Committee of the Council any more, we still work closely with the Municipality and the tourism officer. 

In 2002 the Association presented the first Fish Festival, which has become the major event in Henties Bay that does not only attract a huge number of people to our small town, but also served to promote Henties Bay as a well-known and much-loved holiday town worth visiting.

And in April 2007 we designed and registered this website whereby we strive to reach many prospective visitors and further promote Henties Bay's attractions as a holiday town.