BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – The Bushfire Festival keeps growing with every year passing by, as 22 880 tourists came to this country solely for this international showpiece.
According to the MTN Bushfire Festival Tourism Statistical Release, this year’s Bushfire Festival attendance grew by 50.1 percent, compared to last year. The information was released by the research department of Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA).
The statistics show that tourists from 10 countries attended the event. The countries include South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, USA, Lesotho, France, Portugal, Botswana, United Kingdom, and Germany. South Africa is one country that had more tourists attending the festival.
According to the statistics, the neigbouring country made a contribution of 75 percent of the number of tourists that attended the carnival. South Africa was followed by Eswatini’s other neighbouring country – Mozambique. The south-eastern African country made a contribution of 11.3 percent of the total number of travellers who attended the Bushfire fair.
Zimbabwe became the third most contributor to the Bushfire fete. The southern African state brought 3.5 percent of the globetrotters who wanted to be part of the event. The USA became the next country to contribute, after Zimbabwe. The North American state contributed 1.7 percent of the sightseers who attended the event.
Lesotho contributed 1.5 percent of the explorers who were part of the Bushfire celebrations. Countries such as France, Portugal, Botswana contributed 0.7 percent of the visitors who were part of the fiesta, while countries such as the United Kingdom, and Germany contributed 0.6 and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Accomodation occupancy rate during this event ranged from 84.2 percent to 98 percent. Bed and Breakfast establishments had 98 percent occupancy rate, while hotels had 92.8 percent rate. Guesthouses had 85.3 percent rate, while game reserves had 84.2 percent occupancy rate.
Mbabane is the place that had most of the journeyers, at 93.6 percent. Ezulwini and Manzini had tourists at 93.3 and 88.1 percent, respectively. Other places in Eswatini had explorers at the rate of 76.5 percent.
