By 
By Bahle Gama
The 17th Edition Bushfire Festival witnessed a significant influx of international visitors to the country, marking a notable increase compared to the previous year.
According to the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA), a total of 22,880 international visitors were recorded entering Eswatini during the Bushfire duration.
This marks a notable increase from the 2023 Bushfire where 15,240 visitors were recorded.
The influx of visitors was predominantly from the Southern Africa region contributed to high occupancy rates across various accommodation facilities.
Inbound arrivals were from the region with South Africa constituting the largest proportion at 75 per cent, followed by Mozambique at 11.3 per cent, Zimbabwe at 6.7 per cent, USA at 1.7 per cent, Lesotho at 1.5 per cent, France at 0.7 per cent, Botswana at 0.7 per cent, United Kingdom at 0.6 per cent and Portugal at 0.6 per cent.
“The Bushfire Festival has continued to thrive, remaining a notable draw card for both domestic and international travelers. The event has contributed immensely towards creating authentic tourist experiences,
which led to economic participation beyond the event by increasing the likelihood of future repeat visitations and boosting off-season tourism.,” said the ETA in a statement.
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It said this event has proven to stimulate economic activity through the creation of additional business turnover, employment, household income, and government revenue in the country.
The increase in tourism arrivals has been attributed to the robustness of the festival’s brand coupled with extensive collaborative marketing between ETA and the Bushfire Festival organizers.
ETA-led promotional activations include Tourism trade and consumer fairs such as Vakantiebuers (Netherlands) WTM Africa (Cape Town), Tourism Indaba (Durban), and Bleed Show (Johannesburg); content creation on the ETA website and social media platforms; and promotion on domestic digital and print media.
On another note, accommodation facilities experienced significant occupancy rates during the Bushfire Festival period from both domestic and international travellers.
According to ETA, impressive accommodation overnight stays as the average room occupancy rate reached 91.8 per cent, reflecting an increase of 0.6 per cent from the 91.2 per cent room occupancy rate recorded in 2023.
Hotels recorded the highest occupancy rate at 92.8 per cent, followed by game reserves at 84.2 per cent, Bed, and Breakfast establishments at 98 per cent, and Guesthouses at 85.3 per cent.
By subregion, Ezulwini with 93.3 per cent accounted for the highest occupancy rate, followed by Mbabane at 93.6 per cent, Manzini at 88.1 per cent, and the rest of Eswatini at 76.5 per cent.
