Mpumalanga is one of South Africa’s most visited provinces and tourism is an important contributor to the economy, accounting for close to a tenth of national GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, while supporting job creation at a time when most other industries are stagnant.
Yet this national success story is not translating into commensurate returns. Industry voices say weak implementation, poor co-ordination between government departments and a lack of leadership are preventing the province from converting its tourism drawing power into sustained economic activity.
The gap is shown in the numbers presented by Beacon Africa Tourism Consultancy CEO Nomasonto Ndlovu at the Mpumalanga Tourism Expo held in the rising sun province’s capital, Mbombela, at the weekend.
According to Ndlovu, international arrivals reached 2.74-million in 2025, up 28% from the prior year, a boom she says is not being matched by the province’s share of visitor spending. Arrivals have grown 59.7% since 2019, the last full year before Covid-19 and the lockdowns that led to disrupted economic activity nationwide.
She said Mpumalanga accounted for 26.1% of the country’s international arrivals in 2025, second only to Gauteng. Yet the province captured only R8.5bn, or 8%, of international tourist direct spend.
Ndlovu views this as a conversion problem, saying while Mpumalanga is attracting visitors, a large proportion of them are not staying in commercial accommodation or spending widely in the province.
The gap is clear in accommodation. Ndlovu found that friends and relatives accounted for 90.8% of international visitor bed nights in 2025, compared with 4.5% for game lodges, 1.5% for hotels and 0.8% for guest houses.
Mozambique and eSwatini accounted for 82.8% of international arrivals, while visiting friends and relatives was listed by 65.4% of travellers. Ndlovu said the province needed to find ways to convert some of these visits into commercial stays through shopping packages, events, business travel, medical travel and other experiences.
Tourism remains a modest but meaningful part of Mpumalanga’s economy. It is smaller than mining but larger than construction. The province has experienced sluggish economic growth in recent years.
According to the provincial government’s own December 2025 report, Relevant Tourism Statistics & Perspectives with Specific Reference to Mpumalanga (compiled by its research & development unit), tourism directly employs 55,800 to 58,300 people in Mpumalanga, about 4.7% of the province’s total employment.
For Graskop Gorge owner and former South African Tourism Board member Oupa Pilane, the problem goes beyond the number of visitors or tourism products available. “The problem for us is governance,” he said.
Pilane said the provincial government had produced numerous tourism strategies, but the challenge was putting them into practice and ensuring the departments responsible for roads, transport, safety and other services worked towards the same tourism objectives.
He said the lack of co-ordination was affecting tourism because roads, public transport, safety, municipalities and other government functions all influence the visitor experience.
Ndlovu made a similar point from a safety and reputation perspective. She identified contact crime, roadside bribery, illegal mining, deteriorating products, community conflict, labour unrest and governance headlines as issues that can affect how visitors view the province.
She said tourism safety was spread across several institutions, including the tourism agency, police, roads authorities, municipalities and operators. A provincial tourism “war room” involving the MECs responsible for tourism, roads, co-operative governance and traditional affairs, community safety and land affairs has been proposed.
‘Everything starts with leadership’
According to Pilane, the lack of co-ordination is also affecting the province’s ability to develop its attractions and keep visitors in towns along the Panorama Route.
“Everything starts with leadership,” he said, adding that government-owned attractions need better management and private-sector participation through long-term operating arrangements, which could help bring investment and activities to sites that are not being fully utilised.
Ndlovu has calculated that persuading just 10% of the province’s 2.74-million international arrivals to stay one additional night in commercial accommodation could create about 274,000 additional bed nights and more than R400m in accommodation spending, based on an assumed R1,500 a night.
Both Pilane and Ndlovu said the province also needed to stop treating Mpumalanga as a route to Kruger National Park and develop towns and attractions that give visitors reasons to stay. “It’s not rocket science. But it needs people who have an open mind and know what needs to be done,” Pilane said.
Business Day
Nompilo Zulu
www.businesslive.co.za
