By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – The tourism industry of Eswatini seems to be doing well, as the number of visitors last month were at 79 124.
This is according to Eswatini Tourism Authority, which posted on its Facebook page about this milestone. The parastatal stated that it got this number through a research it had conducted. The number of tourists attracted in December 2023 shows an increase of 3.1 percent, compared to December 2022.
The top three regional markets, which could have contributed to this milestone, include South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. There were 52 077 people who visited this country, coming from South Africa in December 2023. This has been a decrease of 4.7 percent, compared to December 2022.
There were 14 829 registered visitors who came from Mozambique over the period of December 2023. This showed an increase of 40.8 percent, compared to the same period last year. There were 3 690 registered visitors from Zimbabwe over the same period and that presented an increase of 8.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
The overseas markets for the country, in terms of its tourism, include France, Netherlands, and Germany. Visitors from France were 454, presenting an increase of 18.4 percent, compared to December 2023. There were 418 visitors from Netherlands and that presented an increase of 5.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. There were 381 registered visitors from Germany and that was an increase of 18.5 percent, compared to December 2023.
Interestingly, China has been identified as one of the top emerging markets for the country’s tourism industry. The Asian country is at the top of the emerging markets and is followed by Kenya. India is the third country among the emerging markets for Eswatini’s tourism. The monthly average stay for these tourists is 2.2 nights.
Eswatini has been identified as the 10th most visited country in the African continent, coming after countries such as Mauritius, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, among other countries. Tourism has been identified as one of the key industries that make a significant contribution to the improvement of the country’s economy.
It might have contributed to the country being identified by the World Bank as the fastest growing economy in the Southern African Region in 2021, with the economy growing at the rate of 7.4 percent.
