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Mpumalanga attracts millions of tourists every year, but tourism businesses are not reaping the full benefits because visitors have few reasons to stay longer and spend more money and are concerned about safety, the CEO of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism says.
Oupa Pilane said about 2.7-million visitors came to the province in 2025, but the visitor spend was only about 8%.
Attending the Mpumalanga tourism expo in Mbombela on Friday, he told TimesLIVE that, nationally and globally, Mpumalanga is a big tourist attraction. “The numbers are there,” but certain challenges prevent progress.
Of every R100 tourists spend, only about R8 is spent in the province. This meant tourism was not delivering its full potential as a driver of economic growth, job creation, poverty alleviation and enterprise development.
Pilane described Mpumalanga as a “showroom”.
“What we have a problem with is that the tourists are coming to a showroom. They are not spending money.”
According to Pilane, one of the biggest problems is that many attractions offer little beyond the entrance fee.
He used the Bourke’s Luck Potholes attraction as an example, saying visitors pay the entrance fee but have limited further opportunities to spend money on food, drinks, activities or other services once inside.
“If you are thirsty in [Bourke’s Luck Potholes], you are in trouble. If you are hungry, you are in trouble.”
Pilane said things were different at the Graskop Gorge, where additional tourism facilities had been developed.
Previously, visitors arrived, took photographs of the waterfall, and left. Now they could take part in tourist activities, resulting in an average spend of about R500 per person.
Similar opportunities needed to be developed at other attractions in the province.
“We need to replicate the gorge in all our attractions to see what it is that we can put there that will increase value and also make sure that tourists spend money,” Pilane said.
The lack of activities and facilities also means tourists move through the province quickly.
“Many tourists come to Mpumalanga, spend a day or two, and then go to Cape Town and spend two weeks.”
For some visitors, the problem starts before they even reach the attractions.
Carlos Doukas, from Mozambique, has been visiting Mpumalanga with his wife and son for about 10 years. He said the province remains a favourite because it is close to home and offers beautiful scenery and a peaceful environment.
But his family have recently stopped visiting some of the province’s attractions because of concerns about crime and the lack of e-hailing services.
Doukas said his family often had to fill up their vehicle with fuel so that they could travel to shopping centres and run errands.
“The lack of Ubers is one of the huge downfalls. Petrol is expensive now, so this means we have to cut on activities to make ends meet.
“Sometimes you really want to leave your car at home and be driven around and not have to worry about petrol.”
Doukas said his family had also witnessed people being robbed, and they were concerned about the lack of police visibility.
“Even though we have been in and out of the province and have become regulars, we still walk in fear.
“We’ve seen people get robbed in front of us, but nobody was there to help; police don’t patrol the streets.”
His wife, Naomi, said the family continued to enjoy Mpumalanga because of the peace it offered her children but said foreign visitors should feel more welcome.
Pilane said transport and safety were not issues that could be left to the tourism department alone.
Mpumalanga needed to move from a narrow tourism development approach to a broader “destination development” approach, involving departments responsible for roads, transport, safety and social development.
He said the lack of e-hailing services was a mobility and safety problem.
“When you move to a destination development approach, you are not limiting tourism to the department of tourism. What you are doing is you are bringing [together] everyone that directly or indirectly has something to do with tourism.”
He said the chamber had repeatedly raised the lack of e-hailing services with the government and had now made it a priority.
Pilane also raised concern about governance and capacity in the provincial tourism sector, saying tourism businesses were increasingly having to take on responsibilities that should be handled by the government.
The chamber had proposed a Mpumalanga tourism growth partnership, which had been accepted by the premier, with key deliverables to be monitored quarterly.
“The bigger question is how to get visitors to stay longer, move around safely and spend more money in local businesses and communities because we are not creating value out of our tourism attractions,” he said.
TimesLIVE
Kabungane Biyela
www.timeslive.co.za
