The province has signed a three-year agreement with the SABC to host the prestigious Metro FM Music Awards, which are making a comeback this year
Mpumalanga is known for its breathtakingly scenic landscapes that give travellers a rare opportunity to peep through God’s Window and see the majestic beauty of nature. The province has it all, from wildlife at the Kruger National Park to the whistling breeze of the Graskop Gorge. Its key asset, in spite of all these spectacular attractions, is its kind and loving people, who make the province work.
As Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane posited in the SOPA on Friday, the province will drive infrastructure development and pursue collaborative partnerships, for maximum growth of the sector. The premier announced several investments and agreements that will boost tourism and benefit the people of Mpumalanga. As the highly anticipated Metro FM Music Awards make a comeback, a proud Mtshweni-Tsipane revealed that Mbombela will be the awards’ host city, in a move that will reposition Mpumalanga, as a destination of choice for tourists.
The awards ceremony will be broadcast live on SABC 1, reaching millions of viewers in South Africa and neighbouring countries.
“I am happy to announce that we have partnered with the SABC to host the prestigious Metro FM Music Awards, for the next 3 years, as part of our efforts to bolster tourism within the province and heighten our focus on the arts and creative industry,” Mtshweni-Tsipane reported.
Infrastructurally, the construction of the God’s Window Skywalk, which is a Private-Public Partnership project eyeing between 45 000 and 60 000 tourists along the panorama tourism route, has begun. This is part of Mpumalanga’s plan to augment its natural attractions with artificial and adventurous sites.
Another infrastructure upgrade will be in the form of the development of a new hotel and conference facility in Middelburg. Construction has started already, with July being the completion deadline. The hotel will be rated 5 stars, boasting over 200 beds, top-tier restaurants, a convention centre and a beauty spa. The project has over 20 local contractors that are already benefiting, resulting in the creation of 100 new job opportunities for residents.
Furthermore, the province will develop a cable car that will link the Three Rondavels View Point and the Swadini Dam, and also augment the Makhonjwa Mountain World Heritage Site with an education centre, geo-sites and geo-trails to appeal to tourists who are interested in anthropology.
Again, the province has started receiving direct flights between the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport and Germany, with the first one having landed in November last year. Since then, Mpumalanga has welcomed a total of 182 direct tourists, owing to this partnership. “Through direct marketing, we will continue to establish relations with other airlines from within Africa and across the world to place our Mpumalanga as a tourism destination of choice,” said Mtshweni-Tsipane.
In a trailblazing tourism marketing campaign, Mpumalanga is also planning to collaborate with both Eurowings and South African Tourism in a city-to-city tour in Europe to attract more tourists to the province.
Even though the impact of Covid-19 and other dynamics in the international political economy have been severely felt by the tourism industry globally, Mpumalanga has demonstrated admirable tenacity to rise from these economically depressing circumstances.
Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane affirms: “Despite the challenges that were brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Europe and the lacklustre global economic growth which has led to the decline in disposable income, foreign and domestic tourists have been slowly coming back to visit our beautiful province.”
