According to KLT's Executive Director Lisa Sheard, the Kruger Lowveld (now Kruger Lowveld Ehlanzeni) region is a distinct, physical area in the Mpumalanga Province that essentially follows the boundaries of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality. However, the tourism region of Kruger Lowveld Ehlanzeni also includes important gateway towns such as Dullstroom, Hoedspruit, Machadodorp/eNtokozweni and Badplaas/eManzana, which do not fall within the demarcated boundaries of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, but nevertheless form part of the region as perceived by tourists who generally pay little attention to boundaries other than international ones.
"Adding the word 'Ehlanzeni' - which means lowland/lowveld in the Nguni languages - to our destination brand will ensure that the region and its offerings will be better understood and contextualised in the domestic tourism environment. We are excited at the prospect of being much more inclusive, multicultural and multilingual," says Sheard.
"Our organisation consistently tries to transform itself to ensure that we cater to the needs of all of our target audiences and including the word Ehlanzeni in our destination brand is yet another way of making our tourism region more accessible to potential domestic tourists," she adds. Destination marketing is extremely important for any region and the Kruger Lowveld Ehlanzeni region, which already generates R9.5-billion in annual tourism spend and makes up 52% of the total tourism spend in Mpumalanga, is no exception.
The addition of the word 'Ehlanzeni' to the destination brand will have no impact on the organisational name, identity or brand.
