Kwazulu-Natal tourism head here to map out way forward

Seychelles was recently admitted in the ‘East 3 Route’ initiative and following that a high-level delegation from the Kwazulu-Natal is in the country to help map out the way forward for the now four-country marketing strategy.

The ‘East 3 Route’ initiative is a grouping of Kwazulu-Natal of South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique and was spearheaded by former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and His Majesty the King of Swaziland, Mswati III, in 1998 with a view of promoting eco-tourism development in the three countries, capitalising on the region’s exciting topographical landmarks and emphasising on the existing blend of cultural and historical heritage.

Seychelles was recently admitted to form part of the grouping after Tourism and Culture Minister Alain St Ange learned of the initiative during a tourism conference and trade fair in South Africa.
 
A delegation from the Kwazulu-Natal led by its tourism ministry head Smanga Sethene yesterday held a meeting with Minister St Ange and key officials from the ministry to map out a strategy for the now four-country grouping to market what their respective country has to offer.

Speaking to the press before the meeting at the tourism ministry headquarters, Mr Sethene said the
‘East 3 Route’ collaboration includes tourism excursions by road.

“It encourages people from the countries concerned to visit each other’s countries. For instance visitors could arrange to have breakfast in Kwazulu-Natal, lunch in Swaziland and dinner in Mozambique,” Mr Sethene explained.

He pointed out that with Seychelles now being part of the grouping a leg of the excursion will be solely dedicated to it.
“With tourism being a key industry here, the initiative is going to be of immense benefit to Seychelles,” he said.

“We are going to encourage people from the three other countries to choose Seychelles as a destination of choice in their next holiday season,” he explained.
But how is this going to be done?

Mr Sethene explained that with the next excursion, expected from October 13-19, a dedicated excursion will be coming to Seychelles and this is expected to be marketed in the three countries.
Minister St Ange said the initiative is similar to that of the Vanilla Islands of the Indian Ocean region.

He noted that Seychelles has a lot to benefit from the initiative and the meeting yesterday was to prepare an action plan on how the four countries will now proceed with their marketing and promotion strategy.

“It is important to have a good strategy and the three countries have agreed to admit Seychelles in the initiative and help it to decentralise its tourism,” said Minister St Ange.
He said details of how the initiative will work will be announced in due course.
This year’s will be the third ‘East 3 Route’.

Forrás: www.nation.sc