Africa-Press – Eswatini. Durban and Mpumalanga Tourism Authority will be gracing the MTN Bushfire 2022 festival.
This was confirmed by Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) Chief Executive Officer Linda Nxumalo.
She said the ETA was thrilled to confirm that the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) and Durban Tourism would be attending this year’s MTN Bushfire festival.
She said their presence at the festival was the result of their strengthened partnerships with the provinces following their recently signed MoU with MTPA and Mozambique Tourism Board under the Triland Agreement at this year’s Africa Travel Indaba.
“Triland is an initiative entered into between the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA), Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) and the Mozambique Tourism Board (Inatur), aimed at promoting the region as a tourist, trade and investment destination,” she said.
She stated that further to the MoU the ETA signed a statement of intent with South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga) and Mozambique Tourism at Africa’s Travel Indaba.
“The three countries engaged on a revised East3Route concept at Africa’s Travel Indaba on May 3 to further explore strategic ways of tourism products, increase tourist arrivals, boost tourism investment and enhance trade and investment within Eswatini, South Africa and Mozambique,” she said.
She stated that the attendance of MTPA and Durban Tourism at this year’s MTN Bushfire festival was a manifestation of the strategic objectives outlined in the Triland MoU and East3Route Statement of Intent, respectively.
Nxumalo explained that the presence of these provinces was crucial as it demonstrates the resuscitation of the country’s combined efforts to promote inter-regional travel, thereby ensuring heightened visibility for the tourism products in Eswatini, Mpumalanga and Durban through the respective tourism boards.
“When each country visits another through these mega events with the aim to activate, it serves to actively fulfil our efforts to promote each province’s tourism products while promoting Eswatini, subsequently contributing towards the multi-sector nature of the tourism value chain which benefits transport, retail, entertainment, agriculture and hospitality industries among many others,” she said. She also mentioned that the ETA visited Mpumalanga on March 3 to activate on Eswatini’s official events calendar of which the activation was facilitated in collaboration with MTPA.
“It was attended by the province’s tour operators and members of the media. We presented the country’s key cultural, entertainment and sporting events and MTN Bushfire was one of them.
The response was positive and resulted in tour operators packaging tours on some of these events,” she said.
She concluded by saying in the spirit of the promoting intra-regional travel ETA would also visit the provinces in the near future to activate the country’s upcoming events, as well as the Eswatini Air airline, which will be launching routes to Durban soon.
“Furthermore, we plan to continue supporting local tour operators by taking them on speed marking activations so that they broaden their network and sell local tour packages to regional buyers and tourists,” Nxumalo said.
The Minister of Tourism and Environmental affairs Moses Vilakati said that the attendance of the provinces at MTN bushfire was very exciting news to the ministry.
“Their attendance solidifies the relationship between the two countries and it is a clear sign that the MOU signed by both countries is bearing fruits,” he said.
He added both provinces were attending to finish off talks on the East3routes that were discussed during the Tourism Indaba.
“As the ministry of tourism and environmental affairs we welcome them to the Kingdom of Eswatini and we hope they enjoy their stay in our beautiful kingdom,” the minister said.
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