Mbabane: The tourism industry received about 3202 tourists over the Easter weekend alone.
This is according to data sourced from Eswatini Tourism Authority ETA in collaboration with the Department of Immigration – Entry/ Departure Cards.
The data shows that international tourists received by the country were 3202, these include international tourists from all over the world.
Inbound tourism data based on the continents shows that Africa had the highest number of tourists coming to Eswatini. Inbound tourism means visits to a country by visitors who are not residents of that country.
The released data shows that the African continent had the highest number of tourists coming to Eswatini over the Easter weekend, this is about 3061 tourists which is 95.6 percent. On the second spot is Europe at 2 percent with 65 tourists, Australia had 1.6 percent with 51 tourists while America had 0.6 with 18 tourists and the Middle East at 0.2 percent with 7 tourists.
The Easter weekend top ten arrivals included South Africa which was top of the list with 2602 visitors at 81.3 percent, followed by Mozambique at 9.3 percent, Zimbabwe at 2.9 percent France and United Kingdom (UK) both at 0.6 percent, the United States of America (USA) at 0.5 percent while Lesotho, Tanzania, and Pakistan all at 0.4 percent and India at the least at 0.3 percent.
Outbound tourism data reflected 3710 tourists. Outbound tourism is the act of traveling ‘out’ of your home country for the purposes of tourism.
The data also shows that the average hotel occupancy was at 15 percent, average guest house occupancy was 10 percent, average game/nature reserve occupancy was at 30 percent, the total overall occupancy was at 15.6 percent, and average accommodation occupancy 2021 was at 14.8 percent.
In a bid to stimulate domestic tourism, Eswatini Tourism Authority has continued to encourage EmaSwati to explore their own country, this is done through a series of domestic tourism campaigns which are aimed at enticing emaSwati to explore their own country. The campaigns have seen the tourism industry running promotions which include up to 50 percent discounts on accommodation.
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