This year the Limpopo delegation from the Limpopo Department for Economic Development and Tourism (LEDET) focussed on ecotourism with emphasis on sustainable development and greening with tourism icons such as the Kruger National Park and Maphungubwe World Heritage Site as highlights. From Hoedspruit, Wild About Hoedspruit, Kingfisher Creek, and Cape Vulture Lodge attended the Indaba.

Annie Williams, owner of Kingfisher Creek, said that this year’s Indaba was much better than last year. “This year it was more businesslike; we had meetings with people from different sectors and more insights were gained,” Williams said. “We need to continue to promote Hoedspruit as a major tourism destination in Limpopo,” Williams said. Tom Vorster of Wild About Hoedspruit said that the show was well attended, and he had 25 meetings with businesses and stakeholders.

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“I was surprised that a lot of people did not know about Hoedspruit and that it has an airport. Even travel agencies thought that a person had to use the Nelspruit airport and then drive to Hoedspruit. Hopefully, this will change,” he said. He said they have recently produced a new map of Hoedspruit and distributed it to businesses and visitors at the Indaba.

During the Indaba, MEC for LEDET, Rodgers Monama said Limpopo showcased 57 products comprising 50 small, medium, and macro enterprises (SMME) and seven well-established big-scale products. “What excites me is that the districts of Capricorn, Vhembe, Waterberg and Sekhukhune were housed at the Limpopo pavilion. Mopani was next to the Limpopo pavilion stand,” Monama said.