BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – Local tourism saw a few developments on Incwala Main Day last week.
This was revealed by Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) statistics.
According to ETA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Linda Nxumalo the easing of restrictions on travel, helped emaSwati display admirable enthusiasm towards domestic tourism, as demonstrated in statistics gathered from the Incwala week.
Local hotels, guesthouses as well as game and nature reserves are said to have recorded an average occupancy rate of 14.8 percent.
Nxumalo said this was a great improvement considering the lack of activity that all local tourism establishments suffered under the global lockdown regulations.
“During this time last year, the tourism industry was completely shut down following the closing down of borders and the global call for people to stay at home as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
In addition to that she said things were certainly looking up this year with border activity amassing a total of 6 912 arrivals as cited in research gathered by the ETA in collaboration with the Department of Immigration.
These findings also reveal that Eswatini’s source markets have, once again, shown enthusiasm for visiting the country.
South Africans constituted the highest number of travellers visiting Eswatini, followed by Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom and France among others.
Pics source: Eswatini Tourism Authority
