LIMPOPO PROVINCE; SUN MEROPA CASINO AND HOTEL: The Limpopo Province announced the names of the provincial winners of the 2018 Lilizela Tourism Awards. The announcements were made at an awards ceremony held on 11th September 2018 at Sun Meropa Casino and Hotel where all the provinces finalists were publicly honored for their contribution to service excellence and quality assurance in the tourism industry.

Billed to recognize only the best in the South African tourism industry, the Lilizela Tourism Awards aim to recognize and reward the highest levels of excellence in tourism value chain. They are the ultimate reward for entrepreneurial and service excellence that sets global benchmark standards. 

The Lilizela Tourism Awards are an opportunity to celebrate professionalism, creativity and innovation in the industry. The provincial awards are being held in the month of September  which is also the time that South Africa and the tourism industry at large celebrate Tourism Month. 

During the event Limpopo Tourism Agency Chief Executive Officer Ms. Nomasonto Ndlovu said Our Province has seen great improvement in terms of repeat visits and length of stay in recent years manly because of improvement in customer service in the sector. The length of stay has shown a slight increase from 3.3 days in 2016 to 3.4 days in 2017. Limpopo has shown resilience and increase in the international market with arrivals at 1.8 million from 1.54 million in 2016. Spend displayed an increase of R9.9 billion in 2017 from R7.6 billion in 2016, which is an increase of R2.3 billion

She went on further to say, “As Limpopo we are aware that we still have a long way to go to reach outstanding service excellence across the board, and we are committed to continue working with industry and Grading Council to ensure we continuously improve on service excellence. 

The MEC for Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Mr. Seaparo Sekoati, who delivered a keynote address, stressed how important it is for every tourism role player to take service excellence issues seriously. It should be the obsession of all of us in the tourism sector to provide an award winning service to the customers, who will in turn spread positive messages about our special services which is an award on its own. It is an award because, it will guarantee us return visits from our customers with more visitors to our establishments, said Sekoati.  He further said, In line with the National and global theme for 2018 Tourism Month, we need to upgrade capacity in terms of internet connectivity because as you will know, most travelers today both domestic and international, prefer buying directly to avoid delays due to use of third parties in the form of tour operators and other sources. 

He reported that Limpopo Connexion under Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA) has commences with the rollout of broadband in the Province which is an initiative that will impact all sectors of the economy including tourism.