LTDC to market Lesotho online

MASERU — The Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) says it is in the process of setting up a website to market the country to tourists.
The LTDC says the website will seek to market and actively promote tourism and investment opportunities in the country on the internet.
LTDC public relations officer Tšiu Shale told the Lesotho Times on Monday that the website will seek to expose Lesotho to international tourists and investors.
“This will be an interactive website, which will link the tourism sector in the country with the international market,” Shale said.
“The use of modern technology such as the internet will allow us to communicate directly and immediately with international tourists.”   
Shale said the internet had triggered significant changes in the way people conduct business in the global tourism industry.
He said the website will be dedicated to promoting Lesotho as a tourist destination of choice and enable tourists to book for accommodation online.
“This will benefit (tourism) establishments in the country as they will be marketed by the website around the globe,” Shale said.
He said brochures and leaflets that have been in use for years have proved not to be effective as a marketing tool especially on the international market.
Shale said the new website will enable Lesotho to expand its marketing capacity and boost tourism visitors to the country.
He said the website will be made up of two micro sites — visitlesotho.net and visitlesotho.bus — which will give information to potential tourists and investors respectively.
He said most of the tourists who visit Lesotho are from the Western countries where the use of the internet was widespread.
To catch this market, it was important to devise new marketing methods in line with modern realities, Shale said.
Shale said the biggest challenge they were facing was that most accommodation facilities did not have internet facilities.
“In most accommodation establishments transactions are cash-based and this brings a challenge especially with international tourists as they are not able to book and transfer cash electronically,” he said.
He said the corporation was currently providing ongoing training for those in the hospitality sector to improve their service delivery skills.
Lesotho has breath-taking scenery but critics say the country’s tourism potential is still to be tapped.