Marula Festival a boost for Phalaborwa tourism

Judging by the more than 17 000 revellers and music enthusiasts from different parts of the country who made their way to Impala Park Stadium in Phalaborwa to be part of the annual Marula Jazz and Gospel concert on Saturday, the festival continues to grow.
This is according to Moss Ngobeni, Marula Festival Manager who said the huge attendance is a clear indication that the festival is growing. “We had about 2 700 revellers for the Hip-Hop and Dance Movement a week before the Jazz and Gospel concert. We are happy with the atandance. We had 12 000 litres of the marula beer prepared for the concert and there was demand for more. Revenue figures for the festival will be released next week,” Ngobeni said.
Chief Executive Officer of Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA), Nomosonto Ndlovu said they were pleased that the town of Phalaborwa with its capacity of over 1 600 beds was fully booked during the concert.
According to Ndlovu the full capacity augurs well for the tourism sector in the province. “To date tourism in Phalaborwa is a huge success because of this festival. We will continue to support it to ensure that it continues to grow tourism thereby also growing the economy of the province. As part of destination marketing, which is our mandate, we used this event to spread our wings even wider by taking the Golf Day held at Tzaneen Country Club on the day of the event as part of the festival. This was to ensure that other destinations from within the region of Mopani also benefit from this event.”
The Provincial Government hosted a delegation of 13 Cuban guests at the festival.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com