Festive season campaign for tourism introduced

Published on : Monday, October 25, 2021

As the festive season is approaching, the province is already preparing itself to welcome local as well as foreign visitors to the region. Officially launching the Festive Season Tourism Campaign, the MEC of the Department of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Vusi Mkhatshwa, explained that the Covid-19 pandemic had a very bad effect on economy as well as tourism, and the need to rejuvenate the sector came to the forefront.

To quote Mkhatshwa, “This time last year, most of our tourism attractions were closed and tourists could not travel freely as the pandemic was rampant and superimposed on people’s lives. Regrettably, our once resilient tourism sector was not spared. As a result, a number of tourism businesses closed their doors permanently, and unfortunately, some people lost their jobs and their livelihoods were significantly disrupted by the shock of this invincible enemy. This was evident from the number of tourists who visited South Africa and the province in 2020 as compared to 2019.”

On Friday, he officially introduced the festive drive at the Hazyview’s Reserve Boutique Hotel. It was attended by local as well as national media outlets.

As part of this event, the MTPA hosted many activities like river rafting, bungee jumping and quad biking for journalists. As per Stats SA, last year, less than five million international tourists visited South Africa compared to 15.8 million the year before, suggesting a major drop. From that, in 2020, Mpumalanga’s share was also terribly low – the 300 000 mark, as compared to 1.6 million in 2019. “In our quest to rekindle the sector, we have just concluded celebrating the successful Tourism Month in September.”