Mbabane: Eswatini is a safe place to travel!
In boosting confidence in tourists and ensuring that Eswatini is a safe destination by making tourist establishments safer, the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Moses Vilakati has awarded the Hilton Garden Inn and the Royal Villas a safe travel stamp certification.
The two have become the first hotels in Eswatini to receive safe travel stamp from the Ministry of Tourism.
The establishments were awarded the travel stamp certificates by the minister on Monday, October 19, 2020 at Hilton Garden Inn and the Royal Villas.
The awarding of the certification comes after the ministry assessed the establishments to ensure that the covid-19 regulations that were recently launched are adhered to. Hilton Garden and the Royal Villas were amongst the first ones to pass the assessments thus they were awarded the safe travel certification.
The minister also toured both institutions and gave the awards separately after inspection, starting with Hilton Garden in the morning and the Royal Villas at noon.
Vilakati congratulated the hotels for working tirelessly in ensuring that their establishments are a safe place to visit, saying they should be a safe place and not become hotspots for COVID-19 transfer.
Worth noting is that in September Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA), the Ministry of Tourism as well as the Ministry of Health launched COVID-19 guidelines for the tourism sector which were endorsed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).
The minister urged other facilities to come forward and apply for the assessment so that they can be awarded the safe travel stamps as well since it was good for business and will bring confidence to tourist.
Making her remarks, Hilton Garden Mbabane General Manager, Christine Ndlovu, thanked the ministry of tourism as well as ETA for working hard in ensuring that Eswatini was indeed a safe place to travel.
“As the recipients of this prestigious award and certification, we are honored and humbled to have been one of the first hotels to receive this accolade,” said Ndlovu. He added that for them such would be an extremely useful tool in attracting their clients even during the covid-19 pandemic. Ndlovu said Hilton does not only comply with COVID-19 regulations but is also a safe place for guest to travel.
Royal Villas General Manager, Karol Joszkowski, said they were very proud to be awarded the safe travel stamp, adding that the recognition was an indication that indeed Royal Villas was a safe place for people to visit.
He noted that since the reopening of the international boarders due to the easing of the lockdown restriction they have noted the increase in the number of visitors. He said he was optimistic that after the awarding of the certification they were going to see a more visitors coming to the establishment since the place was now a certified place.
Worth noting is that Eswatini was amongst the first countries to be awarded safe travel stamp by the World Travel Organization. Earlier in the beginning of the year Eswatini was named by lonely planet as amongst the top ten countries to visit in 2020.
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