BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– The Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs is a hive of activity.
Fresh from Tourism Indaba, where Eswatini tourism sector was advertised.
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) and the Gauteng Tourism Authority in May 2022, Eswatini’s Minister for Tourism and Environmental Affairs, met with the Gauteng Province’s MEC for the Department of Economic Development, Tasneem Motara and the CEO of the Gauteng Tourism Authority, Sthembiso Dlamini last week.
Eswatini and Gauteng have agreed on areas of collaboration and will be executing their partnership activities this year.
Some of these include exchange programmes for benchmarking purposes.
Eswatini Air, represented by its Commercial Director, Xavier Masule, received Gauteng’s commitment to support its marketing objectives.
The two tourism authorities will facilitate joint marketing of tourism products and the creation of promotional campaigns to boost domestic, regional and international tourism, amongst other initiatives.
Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Moses Vilakati said they have got another ally in marketing tourism in the Southern African region.
He said most of the country’s key source markets are long-haul markets, and as they come to this part of the world, we would like them to visit a couple of countries before they head back.
“Adding Eswatini to the network is a welcome development. The Royal Kingdom of Eswatini’s airline started flying into Zimbabwe, and this makes the connectivity between the two countries, which allows for a smoother movement between the two countries. Above those, the two authorities will benefit from benchmarking activities,” he said.
Meanwhile Eswatini Tourism Chief Executive Officer, Linda Nxumalo, said they have always been excited to enter into this partnership with different countries.
Pic cred: Eswatini Tourism Authority
