Feasibility Study of Proposed Tourism Dev in Shewula, NE ...

Chapter 2 - Situational Assessment
and foreign tourists travelling to Mozambique or on foreign and domestic tourists
travelling from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal or vice versa. The Maputo Corridor
Programme and the Lubombo SDI could provide a potential to boost the tourism
industry in Swaziland. 73
The indication is that just fewer than 10% of all visitors to South Africa include
Swaziland as a destination in their itinerary. Of the foreign visitors who prefer to
include Swaziland in their itinerary, most are from the European market, with the
Australians also showing interest.
Any marketing venture entered into must look to exploit the current situation of
benefiting from tourism trends in South Africa, and to look into a means of
incorporating the other markets that have not yet made Swaziland a preferred
destination choice. One way is for a marketing strategy to look to increase the ratio of
visitor-nights spent in Swaziland. 74
2.7. CONCLUSION
It is evident that Swaziland has tremendous potential for tourism, with numerous
natural and cultural assets that could make it an interesting and unique tourist
destination. However, significant institutional capacity at the national level is required
for ensuring that tourism development occurs within the framework of sensitivity to
the receiving environment and that it contributes to the economic development of the
country. In addition, significant constraints to tourism development in Swaziland, that
could impact the feasibility of tourism development at the local level, in the Shewula
area. Constraints, such as inefficient promotion of tourism in Swaziland and lack of
commitment to implementing recommendation of studies about tourism, would need
to be addressed, in order to create a more conducive environment that facilitates and
promotes tourism in Swaziland.
73 Thompson, C.F. 1998, op cit.
74 Anonymous, 1998, op cit.
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