45 tour operators and agents from Germany will be air landing into Mpumalanga on a familiarization trip as part of promoting the Eurowings Discover direct flight from Fankfurt. The airline will be coming to Mpumalanga for the first time in November 2022, as an initiative made possible by the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) together with Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA).
The four-day familiarization trip to Mpumalanga starting this coming Sunday, will afford the agents and tour operators an opportunity to visit some of the tourism attractions in the province including Kruger National Park for a wildlife experience. The trip will further afford the group an opportunity to inspect some of the variety of accommodation facilities on offer within Kruger National Park.
Further itinerary include the planned City-to-City tour to Germany, which will see Mpumalanga taking some of the local tour operators with to promote the destination and activations will be conducted in the near future aimed at enhancing this route.
Acting CEO of the MTPA, Mduduzi Vilakaz acknowledged that Germany was one of Mpumalanga’s key tourist markets. He further said hosting the agents and tour operators, was a way of reaffirming a long-term relationship that would ensure that more tourists from Germany flock into the province.
“The direct flight from Frankfurt to KMIA will promote the destination and increase tourist numbers to the province. We are excited to be hosting these agents in the place of the rising sun. We trust that this visit will afford them an opportunity to learn more about Mpumalanga’s diverse tourism offerings,” said Vilakazi.
The planned trade fair on the second day will afford the crew an opportunity to engage with the various Mpumalanga tourism businesses on various packages that will be on offer and. It will further build long lasting relationships that will promote destination Mpumalanga.
The familiarisation trip is being held in advance of the inaugural inter-continental schedule to KMIA from Frankfurt with Eurowings Discover commencing from 16 November 2022 and is key to ensuring the long term sustainability of this route development initiative for the Mpumalanga province.
CEO of KMIA, Grant Ponting said that such trade fair was a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of Mpumalanga and the Lowveld’s natural tourist assets and to further assist big and small local tourism entities to gain exposure.
“As KMIA we are immensely proud to be hosting an inbound tourism trade fair at Skukuza and we appreciate the support that entities such as MTPA, SANParks, to mention a few, have shown us through the entire processing ,” Ponting said.
