Mpumalanga was flooded with tourists this holiday season, with bumper-to-bumper traffic at most of its tourism sites, the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency (MTPA) told Tourism Update.

Although the agency is unable to provide the exact number of visitors at this stage, as the performance report for October to December 2023 has not been released yet, the province’s events recorded thousands of people in attendance.

“This year’s holiday season saw a number of visitors coming to Mpumalanga due to the number of events that were hosted at various parts of the province. We had a festive season filled with events, hosting some of the renowned performing artists such as Sjava’s Live Tour in Mbombela.

“We collaborated with ten event organisers with events taking place in the three districts of the province. Each of the major events recorded at least 30 000 people attending. This shows that a massive number of the travellers we saw were travelling based on events and further extending their stay to visit some of the tourism attractions,” the MTPA said.

The popular Panorama Route, which consists of attractions such as the Blyde River Canyon, Three Rondawels, God’s Window, and Graskop Gorge Lift, and the Kruger National Park, were the top most-visited areas. Small towns such as Dullstroom, Hazyview, and Sabie were also amongst those that saw large numbers of visitors.

Job opportunities created

Many job opportunities were created during the holiday season, especially for events.

“Accommodation establishments had to employ more housekeepers to assist, salons were full, security guards were recruited to ensure that tourists are safe and restaurants were always full,” the MPTA said.

Marketing bears fruit

The entity ran a holiday season marketing campaign using radio and print media, which resulted in a number of successful bookings.

“These media platforms allowed us to reach a wider audience and create awareness about the offerings available in the province. A number of media engagements were conducted with a range of local, national and international media aimed at positioning Mpumalanga as a preferred holiday destination. By creating this awareness, we had received a number of bookings in our nature reserves and other privately owned tourism facilities,” the MTPA said.

Emphasis on domestic travel

Mpumalanga is currently doing well in terms of international arrivals, although it is yet to improve its number of domestic trips.

“Our marketing efforts are now aimed at ensuring that we put more emphasis on providing tourists with different and unique and unknown experiences so that they can increase their length of stay. We are confident that we will see an increase in domestic trips in this quarter once the performance report for October to December 2023 is released,” the MPTA concluded.

According to the Quarter 3 Tourism Performance Report (July to September 2023) released by South African Tourism, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape had a significant combined number of domestic trips of 2.1 million – showing a minor positive increase compared with Q3 2022 (8.8% and 3.5% respectively).