Mzanzitravel Magazine - Issue 9

News & Information
Lilizela Tourism Awards entries
now open
Entries for the esteemed Lilizela Tourism Awards for accommodation
establishments and tourism-related products and services opened this month.
The annual awards recognise and reward tourism players and businesses who
work with tireless pride to deliver world-class products and services, growing
South Africa’s global competitiveness as a destination in the process. The Lilizela
Tourism Awards have been honouring the “best of the best” products, experiences
and people in the South African tourism sector since 2012.
An initiative of the National Department of Tourism and spearheaded by South
African Tourism, the annual awards ceremony is always a star-studded and
celebratory affair. Tourism’s ongoing drive to promote service excellence and
product grading through the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA)
is yielding positive results for the tourism industry. In 2017, the awards attracted
a record number of 1,649 entries, up by about 40% from 2016’s figure. Tourism
businesses across the nine provinces are encouraged to enter.
Cape Town promotes water-wise
tourism
Much like other successful tourist regions such as Southern California and Western
Australia, South Africa’s Western Cape is among the world’s most water-scarce
areas. Vulnerable to climate change effects and susceptible to periodic droughts,
the Western Cape is currently going through a significant lack of rainfall. However,
as recently noted by World Travel Market (WTM,) Cape Town and the Western
Cape are open for business despite the current drought. “Visitors and delegates
will arrive in a place with a significant breadth and depth of experiences, and
exceptional beauty, but we encourage you to be mindful of water-wise tourism and
business travel when you’re here,” noted a WTM report. Cape Town has also put
up various initiatives to increase the water supply and make provisions for extreme
water shortages.
Source: Travel Trade Daily
Source: IOL
South Africa and China are beneficial partners
This year marks the centenary of the great leader of the South African and African people, and the world at large, Nelson
Mandela. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of China-South Africa diplomatic ties. Twenty years ago, then
President Nelson Mandela made the political decision for South Africa to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s
Republic of China. With joint efforts, the relations realised a triple jump from a partnership to a strategic partnership,
and now to comprehensive strategic partnership. In the process, a tremendous amount of tangible benefits have been
delivered to both peoples.
Today, the China-SA relationship has gained growing strategic and global significance. China is a reliable, productive
and beneficial partner to South Africa. Over the years, a multi-layered, wide-ranging and all-dimensional co-operation
framework between China and South Africa has taken shape. China-SA relations have become a role model for China’s
co-operation with other African and developing countries. In mutually beneficial and win-win co-operation, China has for
nine years in a row been South Africa’s largest trading partner.
Source: IOL / Pretoria News
12 |ISSUE 9|www.mzanzitravel.co.za | MZANZITRAVEL