Ambassador of the Kingdom of Eswatini in the Republic of South Africa, Dumsile Sukati has declared that Information Communication Technology (ICT) was critical for advancing tourism. 
With almost all industries in first world countries striving for a ‘super-smart’ society in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the African tourism industry will soon be aiming for the same.
This was during two activations by the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) in Sandton and Pretoria earlier last week. The ETA met at least 10 country representatives in high commissioners, ambassadors and other diplomats who are based in Pretoria, as well as media and industry players in an effort to forge partnerships aimed at improving visitor numbers from Gauteng. Emphasising this at both activations, the Ambassador said ICT was imperative in determining which destinations tourists had visited, when they came to the kingdom and how long they stayed. “When one wants to engage in travel and tourism, the first thing they think about is going on the internet to look for accommodation, transport, shopping, events and climatic conditions,” said Sukati.
She alluded to the fact that the online reputation of any destination formed a pivotal aspect of destination awareness. Sukati also commended the robust relationship between the ETA and South African tourism, reiterating that destination awareness could never be successful with only one party involved. ETA partnered with the Mpumalanga province and Mozambique to form the Tri-Land partnership, which has been in existence for more than 10 years now.
Meanwhile, ETA Chief Executive Officer Linda Nxumalo, who led the ETA team to the activations said their partnerships with writers, bloggers and destination experts proved all the more profitable as most material about Eswatini was published online.
“The ETA is pro-ICT as all our efforts to market the country have an online backing. Recently, we had Gavin Bell, an award-winning destination expert who wrote an amazing article that reached millions of readers in the United Kingdom,” she said. The CEO said the ETA thus invited the media to the activations over and above tour operators and travel agents. She also mentioned that the ETA was making more rigorous efforts to improve their online presence through their websites and social media. “The ETA has improved its online marketing and online presence through constantly supplying fresh material for the website and totally revamping it in September last year,” she said.
Nxumalo said the website’s new features earned it a Google top spot at the end of June this year. The ETA has also redesigned their destination videos as well as going back on air for their Tekuvakasha Radio on EBIS One.
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