GROWING up, there was a bubblegum brand whose wrapper carried little so-called informative messages under the headline: “Did you know?”
That was how me and my peers learnt many things while growing up, at a time when the internet was something we only saw in science-fiction movies and smartphones were not even a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye.
You would buy your 50c bubblegum, unwrap it, chew it until all the sweetness disappeared and, before throwing away the wrapper, read your daily “Did you know?” fact. It was education with sugar.
I am not sure whether those bubblegums still exist. Lady Scrutator can no longer afford to chew a 50c gum anyway. My social status now compels me to buy those sophisticated chewing gums found at elite-store till points, where the cashier casually tells you, “That will be M30”, as if she has just announced the price of a bottle of Motoho.
But that is not where my point lies.
I have been thinking that if that 50c bubblegum were manufactured in Lesotho, its wrapper could carry a very interesting message: “Did you know? The Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) is mandated to promote tourism in Lesotho”.
I would laugh until my lungs hurt. In fact, I would probably march straight to the manufacturing plant and politely ask them to change the message.
Perhaps it should read: “Did you know? LTDC is a government agency responsible for promoting tourism, although sometimes you may struggle to see the promotion”. Now that would be an informative wrapper.
Or perhaps: “Did you know? LTDC has a social-media account. Yes, it does. Please check again”.
But let us put the jokes aside for a moment and contemplate the real business of LTDC. What exactly has this beloved institution promoted so aggressively that it has caused an irresistible influx of local and international tourists into Lesotho?
Please, do not say Afriski. Lady Scrutator will not accept Afriski as evidence. The people operating Afriski are the ones doing the heavy lifting to make the resort attractive to visitors from Lesotho and as far afield as America, Europe and Asia.
I can even bet my annual salary — which, given the current economic climate, is a dangerous thing to bet — that LTDC did not know that the popular South African lifestyle television programme, Top Billing, was recently in Lesotho showcasing the magnificent Afriski.
Imagine that! A foreign television programme comes to our mountains to tell the world what we have, while the people whose job is supposedly to tell the world what we have are sitting comfortably somewhere, perhaps discussing the next strategy to discuss another strategy.
This is where Lady Scrutator gets confused. Lesotho is practically sitting on a tourism goldmine. We do not need to manufacture mountains. God already did that. We do not need to construct waterfalls. Nature already installed them. We do not need to create Basotho culture. We were born with it. All LTDC needs to do is tell people about these things — loudly, creatively and consistently.
Take Soloane Hot Springs in Mokhotlong. How many Basotho even know that this spectacular natural attraction exists? And if our own people are struggling to find it, what chance does a tourist sitting in Amsterdam, Berlin, New York or Tokyo have? Perhaps LTDC is waiting for Soloane Hot Springs to develop its own TikTok account.
Then there is Maletsunyane Falls. One of the highest single-drop waterfalls in the Southern Hemisphere, plunging about 192 metres. One hundred and ninety-two metres! That is not a waterfall. That is a ready-made advertisement. Yet one could argue that the organisers of the Maletsunyane Braai Festival have done more to put Maletsunyane on people’s radar than the very institution charged with promoting tourism. Perhaps the festival organisers should invoice LTDC for doing LTDC’s job. I am joking, of course. But the joke becomes less funny when you consider the economic stakes.
Tourism is not merely about taking pretty photographs of mountains and posting them on Facebook with a caption saying “#VisitLesotho”. Tourism means jobs. It means accommodation, restaurants, transport, tour guides, local crafts and farmers supplying hotels.
It means young people earning money instead of sitting at home scrolling through TikTok while complaining that there are no jobs. It means foreign currency entering the country. It means communities around tourist attractions benefiting from the visitors who come to see what nature has given us.
In other words, tourism is serious business. And Lesotho has almost everything an adventurous traveller could want; mountains, waterfalls, snow, horse riding, hiking, rock climbing, hot springs, cultural experiences, traditional villages, historical sites, adventure sports, you name it.
And a landscape so spectacular that foreigners sometimes have to remind Basotho that they actually live in a beautiful country.
Then came the Roof of Africa a fortnight ago. For a few days, Lesotho became the centre of the international extreme enduro motorcycle world. Riders came from different parts of the globe, with a particularly strong international presence from Europe. They came in teams, brought their motorcycles, brought their support crews, money, booked accommodation, ate in restaurants, bought fuel, hired vehicles, took photographs which they posted online and interacted with Basotho.
In tourism language, that is called opportunity. In Lady Scrutator language, that is called a golden opportunity served on a silver platter.
So what did our beloved LTDC do with this golden opportunity? Nothing that Lady Scrutator could see. Absolutely nothing.
I was out of the country on assignment and had hoped to follow the race from the LTDC social-media pages.
I thought: “Surely, surely, the people responsible for tourism promotion will be all over this”.
I refreshed. Nothing. I refreshed again. Still nothing. I visited the page again. Nothing.
At some point I began wondering whether my internet connection had developed a personal vendetta against me. Then I realised the problem was not my browser. The problem was that there was simply very little there to suggest that one of the country’s biggest international tourism events was happening right here in Lesotho.
Instead, the social-media pages were parading a high-school contest. A high-school contest!
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with promoting young people and their achievements. But if thousands of kilometres away people are preparing motorcycles to come to Lesotho for one of the world’s toughest off-road races, perhaps — just perhaps — that deserves a little promotional attention too.
Unless, of course, LTDC’s marketing strategy is based on the revolutionary principle that tourists will somehow discover Lesotho by accident.
Perhaps the official strategy is: “If they are meant to come, they will come.”
Perhaps the next strategy meeting should be held at a mountain and everyone should sit quietly until tourists appear.
And then there was the tragic death of the German tourist who was involved in a collision with a 4+1 in Roma. May his soul continue to rest in peace.
It was a terrible tragedy, and one that reminded us that tourism also comes with responsibilities around visitor safety, information and coordination.
But how ironic that one of the few major tourism-related stories appearing on LTDC’s platforms during that period was a tragedy involving a foreign visitor, rather than a sustained campaign showcasing the thousands of reasons other foreign visitors should come here. This is where Lady Scrutator gets worried.
Because LTDC cannot possibly promote Lesotho effectively if it only wakes up when there is something to announce.
Tourism promotion requires anticipation. If the Roof of Africa is coming, you prepare weeks or months in advance. You produce content. You profile riders. You showcase accommodation. You advertise attractions along the route. You tell visitors where to eat. You promote local crafts. You create itineraries. You encourage tourists to stay an extra night. You package the event with other experiences. You flood social media with images and videos. You make someone sitting in Germany think: “I must go to Lesotho”.
That is promotion.
Not waiting until the visitors have arrived before taking a photograph. And this is not rocket science. The private sector seems to understand it. Festivals understand it. Hotels understand it. Tour operators understand it. Adventure companies understand it. Even ordinary Basotho with smartphones understand it.
A young Mosotho can stand on a mountain, record a 30-second video and get more international attention for Lesotho than an entire government institution armed with offices, budgets, employees, meetings and strategic plans. That should embarrass somebody. Perhaps many somebodies.
So, dear LTDC, Lady Scrutator has a modest suggestion. Go back to the bubblegum factory. Find those old “Did you know?” wrappers. Print millions of them. Then distribute them across the country. But this time, make the messages useful. Did you know Lesotho has Maletsunyane Falls? Did you know Lesotho has snow? Did you know there are hot springs in Mokhotlong? Did you know Lesotho hosts internationally recognised adventure events? Did you know the Kingdom in the Sky is sitting on a tourism goldmine? And perhaps, at the bottom of every wrapper, add one final question: “Did you know LTDC is supposed to tell the world about all this?” Now that would be educational.
Because Lady Scrutator fears that the greatest tourism attraction Lesotho has yet to discover may actually be the LTDC marketing department itself. Not because tourists want to visit it. But because everyone would like to know exactly what goes on in there. Perhaps that is where the real mystery lies.
And if the corporation ever decides to launch a campaign called “Come Discover LTDC”, Lady Scrutator will gladly buy a ticket. At M30, of course. After all, some things are now too expensive to chew.
Achee!
