Every year, the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) visits The Place of the Rising Sun, South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province, to spread the good news on Destination Eswatini at ETA’s Events Calendar Activation.
This year’s activation was held at The Capital Hotel in Mbombela on 21 February.
With South Africa constituting Eswatini’s largest source market, coupled with the invaluable partnership that the country enjoys with the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency (MTPA), the activation offered yet another opportunity to reengage tourists through the province’s tour operators and media.
As confirmed more recently by the ETA’s Tourism Statistics for 2022, South Africa has shown a 71.85% increase in tourism arrivals between the 4th quarter of 2021 and 2022, while Mozambique managed a 12.4% increase within the same period.
To further enhance this positive progression, the activation was facilitated with the support and in the spirit of the Triland Agreement which continues to inspire concerted, calculated and creative efforts to promote the Eswatini-Mpumalanga-Mozambique route as a regional destination of choice.
Triland is a tourism initiative between the Governments of Eswatini, Mozambique and Mpumalanga Province that seeks to promote joint cooperation on the positioning of Triland as a preferred tourism, trade and investment destination.
The Eswatini Events Calendar was joined by members of Eswatii’s tourism industry and local SMEs who all exhibited on the day. Present on the day were Big Game Parks, MTN Bushfire, the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle, and Swati Secrets who unpacked their events and signature experiences to indulge this year. Eswatini tour operators who attended the activation were Nolu Travel & Tours, Stiba’s Tours and Amahle Travel & Tours.
In her keynote address, ETA’s Chief Executive Officer, Linda Nxumalo, emphasised on the importance of this annual event.
“In the last two years alone, Eswatini has seen the emergence of new, one-of-a-kind tourism establishments. For this reason, it is imperative that the ETA visits Mpumalanga and Mozambique to share updates on the exciting and enticing advancements within our sector, as well as the evolving catalogue of tourism products that appeals to domestic, regional and international tourists,” explained Nxumalo.
MTPA’s Acting CEO of, Mduduzi Vilakazi, encouraged tour operators to design and sell more packages on the Triland route to make manifest the initiative’s aim to offer an integrated experience of all three destinations for tourists.
“Packages will motivate tourists to attend events such as the ones presented in the Eswatini Events Calendar, then invite them to explore the myriad of activities in Mpumalanga and Mozambique,” said Vilakazi.
Tour Operators and members of the media were encouraged to attend the Buganu (Marula) Festival which marks the first event in Eswatini after the activation. The ETA presented a display of marula products that were sampled by guests. These included jams, artchaars, baked treats and juices. Guests were also gifted with Eswatini’s traditional regalia to have them ready for the Buganu Ceremony.