MoU on maximising domestic tourism inMbabane

MBABANE – The Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) and the Municipal Council of Mbabane have signed an MoU to promote and expand domestic tourism in Mbabane.

According to ETA Head of Marketing Siboniso Madlopha, it is important to maximise domestic tourism and to do so they would be working with the city and other municipalities.

He said to ensure that this was possible, they had to bring activities in Mbabane that would help attract tourists while also generating income for emaSwati.

“During the 2020/2021 period, we were very much unfortunate as COVID-19 disadvantaged tourism in the country. While some businesses are still trying to pick themselves up, others are still closed because of the pandemic. This forced us as tourism to redirect our efforts to maximise on domestic tourism and to do that it is key that we work with the cities to make that possible,” Madlopha said.

Packaging

He further mentioned that ETA had assigned a team that would look into packaging activities which tourists would do in the city. Madlopha said the task to do so was assigned to the tour operator, Anna M’ Ginn.

He congratulated the city of Mbabane on being ranked the 9th must visit in Africa by the United Kingdom statistics.

Mbabane Mayor Zephaniah Nkambule said at the moment, people from outside the country knew about cities in the kingdom more than emaSwati. He said this needed to change as emaSwati

Mayor Nkambule (L) and Madlopha making their remarks. needed to start touring the country. her team would package activities for

Nkambule applauded Mbabane for tourists as per the request from ETA having great monuments for the country. and the Municipal Council of Mbabane. He expressed that this was because She expressed her excitement, stating monuments like the first Parliament that it was their dream to work with the and first magistrates court were all in council for some time.

Mbabane. She said the collaboration between

“I am happy to have been part of the them would be able to highlight places change we will be seeing in Mbabane. people could tour. It is important that emaSwati know that for adventure and pleasure they will be able to get that in the city of Mbabane. We even want businesspeople in Mbabane to join us in changing the kingdom, one city at a time,” Nkambule said.

He then mentioned that they were currently working on making the city a business place where businesses could operate throughout the night as other countries did.

Tour operators’ representative Anna

M’Ginn committed to ensuring that

Attraction

“Eswatini is such a great place for tourist attraction. It is important that people know about it, both locally and internationally. My team and I will make sure we spread the information as far and as quick as we can in order to help tourism in the kingdom go back to its normal,” she said.

She mentioned that the tour operators’ team was open to assisting emaSwati with anything tourism related they would need assistance in.