Mahala Week attracts 393 people

THE Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) hosted the annual Wildlife Mahala Week recently as part of their September Tourism Month celebrations.

About 393 residents and tourists received free access to provincial parks, including Singo Safari Lodge, Nwanedi and Tambotie Ridge Lodge.

The acting CEO of LTA, Seipati Tlaka, said by hosting the Wildlife Mahala Week, LTA “will not only expose residents to what provincial resorts have to offer, but we will also build up brand ambassadors and instil a culture of travel in our people”.

Mahala Week is just one of the initiatives LTA used to engage with communities surrounding provincial parks to educate them on what the parks had to offer.

The week was hosted following various consultative relations events hosted throughout the province to address concerns communities had over what the parks, some of which are located on community land, had to offer.

“From time to time, we host what we call stakeholder relation events in all regions of the province whereby industry leaders and tourism stakeholders get to meet and deliberate on issues of common interests,” said Tlaka.

With assistance from the department of education, LTA gave firsthand experience of tourism products to local tourism students.

Tlaka said they would continue with their standing programmes and campaigns such as Kids and Parks, People and Parks, Stakeholder Relations and Domestic Umbrella Marketing Campaign, to drive domestic tourism in the province.

“We will also continue to participate in exhibitions and trade shows outside the province such as Tourism Indaba and Meetings Africa to market the province.”