SATSA Conference – a great success / Selling Mpumalanga

  • July 26th, 2016

About 230 delegates from the tourism industry attended the SATSA (Southern African Tourism Services Association) Annual Conference which was held at Pine Lake Inn in White River from 21 to 23 July.

The event was opened by Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom who was positive about the growth of tourism in South Africa, which has seen a significant growth over the past few months, notwithstanding negatives such as the ongoing problem with unabridged birth certificates, which the Minister hoped would be resolved in the near future.

Topics such as Dynamic pricing; Guiding; Marketing to German speaking Europe; and Tourism Safety & Support were discussed in detail with respected panelists, experts in their fields, providing valuable input.

WTM Africa hosted the opening function at Casterbridge Theatre, with some local restaurants providing excellent street food. Our own Ringetani Cultural Group from Somerset Village near the Sabi Sand Game Reserve entertained the delegates with music and dance.

The gala dinner was held at Mbombela Stadium courtesy of sponsorship from MTPA with the delightful Toti Tenors from Swaziland and The Songbirds providing the entertainment.

Numerous delegates used the opportunity to carry out site inspections of new products in the region pre and post conference.

Kruger Lowveld would like to thank SATSA for selecting our wonderful region to host their conference and enabling us to showcase everything we have here to tourism’s biggest role players.

Selling Mpumalanga

One of the panel discussions at the SATSA 2016 conference covered the marketing of Mpumalanga Province as a tourist destination.

The panelists agreed that while the Kruger National Park and the surrounding private game reserves were the province’s primary attraction for visitors, there was so much more to offer than simply an authentic safari experience. However, there was some consensus amongst delegates that some other attractions, particularly those managed by MTPA and other government departments, were neglected and in need of upgrading and innovation. Another issue impeding the growth of tourism in the province was the poor state of many of the roads. It was also suggested that some of the newly established attractions needed to be better publicized.

Xolani Mthethwa. head of Tourism at MTPA, informed the delegates that MTPA was aware of the state of some of their attractions and that they will commence with an R18m upgrade in the current financial year.