Tokelo Rasephei
TOURIST arrivals in Lesotho increased by 10.5 percent to 1 196 214 visitors in 2016, up from 1 082 403 in 2015.
This was announced by the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) LTDC Head Strategic Marketing Officer, Tebello Thoola, during this week’s 2017 Tourism Statistics Dissemination workshop in Maseru.
He also revealed that hospitality establishments recorded a marginal increase in revenue of M844 million which was a 2, 7 percent increase from M822 million generated in 2015.
The workshop was aimed at providing information on the performance of the tourism sector.
Mr Thoola said that tourism created jobs for Basotho and contributed to overall economic growth.
“The Lesotho Tourism Statistics Dissemination is a true reflection of the results of much effort and hard work that is aimed at providing accurate, useful and directional tourism information to users who seek information about Lesotho,” Mr Thoola said.
The two reports that were disseminated at the seminar were the Arrival & Accommodation Statistics Report and Visitors’ Exit Survey Report.
Mr Thoola indicated that the reports were aimed at giving the reflection of tourists they attract in the country, their characteristics and preferences.
“This information will enable us as the tourism authority to plan accordingly in order to help the private sector to know about the services they should provide to the visitors and to make the general public know about the trends and behaviour of Lesotho’s tourism sector,” Mr Thoola said.
