News

The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) announced the names of the provincial winners of the 2019 Lilizela Tourism Awards. The announcement was made at an awards ceremony held on 6 September 2019 at Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resorts in White River, where all the province’s finalists were honoured for their contribution to service excellence and quality assurance in the tourism industry.

The Lilizela Tourism Awards aim to recognise and reward the highest levels of excellence in the tourism value chain and to recognise only the best in the South African tourism industry.

“We are excited to be honouring the finalists and winners in the various categories of the awards. We would like to congratulate them for taking part in this initiative. Each year, we are encouraged by the quality of products and services that enter the Lilizela Tourism Awards. These awards are our way of recognising the dedication, hard work and commitment portrayed by the industry stakeholders for always providing an utmost high level service for local and international tourists alike”, said MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Pat Ngomane.

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. They are an opportunity to celebrate professionalism, creativity and innovation in the industry.

“This has been a long journey following a rigorous judging process leading to the announcement and we are proud to have come out with good quality products that represent Mpumalanga in the area of service excellence. We remain committed to growing the number of entries to ensure our province is well represented next year”, said Johannes Nobunga, CEO of MTPA.

“Mpumalanga received a total of 77 entries this year. The ceremony tonight will see 28 finalists being awarded certificates, with 16 of them proceeding to represent Mpumalanga in the national awards ceremony to be held in Gauteng in October”, added Nobunga.

“We wish to congratulate our provincial winners for their achievements and all their hard work. They have put a lot of effort into positioning their products and especially the province. We believe that this achievement will enable others to learn from this outstanding work that is being delivered and further motivate others to participate” concluded Nobunga.

Below is the list of provincial winners in the 13 categories: