Potchefstroom Road Lodge has done it again at the National Lilizela Awards. This time they were joined by Pilanesberg Tented Adventures and Anne's Guesthouse. The three emerged as overall winners in their respective categories, during the 17th Annual Lilizela Awards held at the Sandton Convention Centre.
North West MEC for Tourism Desbo Mohono congratulated the three provincial product owners for winning in different categories.
The three represented the North West Province during the Lilizela Awards. The awards honor and celebrate excellence beyond the ordinary by the establishments in the tourism industry.
According to Mohono, the North West Province has a potential to scoop more awards at the Lilizela Awards and vowed that her department will continue to work harder in encouraging other product owners to enter the competition.
“I am personally pleased by the performance of the three products from the province. This shows that we are steadily getting somewhere as a province. I am sure that through the strategy that we have adopted as a province, we will be able to attract big establishments like Sun City and others to take part in the Lilizelas,” said MEC Mohono.
“The big and well established businesses have not shown interest in taking part in these awards and as a department, we have a duty to encourage them to take part. I however congratulate other big establishments that entered for this year’s awards like the Royal Marang Hotel in Rustenburg. We have a great potential as a province as many product owners started from nothing and are making it big in the industry,” she said.
Mohono said that the awards should also be seen as celebrating tourism product owner’s efforts, sacrifice, ambassadorship, their will and sheer drive of making sure that tourism in the North West is noticed and is taken to greater heights.
“Product owners are a pivotal component of the tourism industry and should be supported at all costs. As a department, we will continue to work very closely with our product owners and assist them in marketing their products, the province and its warm hearted people.
Meanwhile the Tourism Minister Tokozile Xasa praised all those who took part in the awards, saying their efforts are recognized and their contribution into the economy of the country is much appreciated.
“The triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment would only be defeated if we stand together and address the reality of what we are faced with as a sector. It's for this reason that as government, we are accelerating our efforts to support rapid transformation in our sector and across the value chain”.
“The sector's growth that we have enjoyed for six consecutive years will be meaningless if it is not based on principles of inclusivity. It is for this reason that we are accelerating implementation of Radical Economic Transformation in our sector. In this regard the department, working with sector stakeholders has put in place a number of tools in line with our vision of “Leading sustainable tourism for inclusive economic growth in South Africa”, which would enable our contribution to the country’s National Development Plan (NDP) – vision 2030," said Minister Xasa.
The Lilizela Tourism Awards serve as a platform for government to assure the tourism and hospitality industry of continuous support. The awardsalso recognize and reward tourism players and businesses who work passionately to deliver world class products and services to both international and local guests.