Pretoria — The North West MEC for Tourism, Desbo Mohono, has congratulated Thaba Tshwene Game Lodge for shining at the recent Annual Lilizela Tourism Awards.
The lodge scooped the Imvelo Award during a glittering ceremony held at the Gold Reef City's Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg.
The Imvelo Award is given to the best single resource management programme and energy management by a small tourism establishment in South Africa, which promotes environmental sustainability through tourism practices.
"As the department charged with the mandate of improving the tourism sector in the province, we are proud of what Thaba Tshwene Game Lodge has managed to achieve at national level.
"This goes to show that our province has a lot of potential and can compete with other provinces in terms of offering the best tourism products," she said.
MEC Mohono said her department will continue to work hard to ensure that government creates an enabling environment for tourism establishments to prosper.
"The standard has been set and we hope that in the next year, we will see more winners emerge from [the North West]," she said.
The General Manager of Thaba Tshwene Game Lodge, Darnet le Roux, said winning the award has been a great experience for the lodge.
"It will also have a positive and rewarding impact on our existing guests as they like to be part of something good and bigger, which will then in return also attract new guests that will expect the high standard that we have to offer.
"Awards like this can only have a positive impact, no matter which establishment walks away with it," she said.