Aiming for a better spot in rural tourism

AKWAZULU-NATAL entrepreneur who started out with a four-roomed B&B has expanded his portfolio into the lucrative rural tourism industry.

Phumlani Ngwenya says his venture into tourism made him realise the ever-growing potential of the country’s tourism industry.

He is now training his aim at conquering the upper end of the market in the rest of South Africa.

“My 15 years worth of contacts database of tourism stakeholders is very huge,” Ngwenya says.

“I sell a package, being based in Pongola; when they pass through the Kruger National Park they can station here. I have widened my package between the Pongola experience and providing an upmarket facility on the Durban coastline.”

In the past few years,

Ngwenya has developed rooms and conference centres to accommodate visitors in the attractive tourism centre of northern Kwazulu-natal.

His target market is tourists who visit the country’s prime attractions such as the Kruger National Park, and regional hubs like Mozambique and Swaziland.

The once four-roomed Magudu Inn now boasts 220 rooms and a conference centre that caters for weddings, government department workshops and team-building events.

Ngwenya says he has also changed Crocodile Creek from accommodation for only 20 to a place that can take 70.

Last year he bought Kwalala Lodge, a four-star facility in the town of Pongola.

To diversify, Ngwenya built and rented out properties that could be used as office space by government departments in Kwazulu-natal.

Ngwenya acknowledges that he has made great strides but he is so driven in that he is now throwing his weight behind developing a luxury estate.

The former teacher says his exposure to real estate started after he was chosen to represent Kwazulu-natal and South Africa at the World Travel Show in London.

This enabled him to interact with different players in the sector and to understand the impact of the industry on neighbouring countries.

“That platform helped me interact with various tour operators and market my product, which is well located near the now eswatini Golela border gate,” he says.

“Many tourists who come from the Kruger National Park via eswatini pass by where my facilities are located.”

It has been a long road for Ngwenya, who started off as a hawker selling peanuts, boiled eggs and sweet potatoes at primary school.

His next move was to sell pawpaws, mangoes and avocados after school, on weekends and during school holidays.

When he qualified as a teacher, Ngwenya opened a fast food tuck shop selling popular dishes. He also supplied local schools with study guides and printing supplies, and opened an early childhood development centre with audiovisual devices for the development of young children.

His biggest break came in 2006 when an old couple was selling a hotel in a prime estate. Although the rooms were dilapidated, Ngwenya looked at the vast land on which the hotel was built and saw an opportunity to expand the facility and landscape the grounds into a tourist attraction.

The struggle to raise funds almost made him miss out on the hotel, until the Kwazulunatal Development Finance Corporation, Ithala, came to his aid.

Ngwenya is also the recipient of the Ithala Development Finance Corporation 2018 Business Achiever’s Award for business excellence. He intends to plough the R100 000 award proceeds back into his business.

Ngwenya has represented South Africa in Germany, France and the Netherlands, among other countries.

For him, the country’s main selling point is that it is a bargain for tourists.

“It becomes cheaper for international tourists to be in South Africa because everything is cheaper to them,” said Ngwenya.

“They come in great numbers, taking advantage of our weak rand and don’t feel as if they are spending much. So I have managed to survive.”