By T’soloane Mohlomi MASERU –
Alliance Insurance group yesterday in continuation of the commemoration of their 30th year anniversary collaborated with the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) to launch a joint tourism venture named “ke Lapeng” campaign.
The promotion campaign between the two entities is envisaged to last for a duration of three years and aims to uplift Basotho and the country at large through the promotion of tourism, and marketing the kingdom as a favorable tourist destination with the potential to attract foreign investment.
The occasion was marked with the unveiling and ribbon cutting ceremony of a newly constructed Landmark Frame adjacent the iconic Qiloane Mountain in Thaba-Bosiu. The monument indicated the coordinates of the beautiful mountain which inspired the shape of the renowned Basotho hat “moliea-nyeoe”.
Principal Chief Thaba – Bosiu, Khoabane Theko in welcoming the partnership lauded the two companies for their unwavering support in helping Basotho in various ways. He lambasted the small budgets often allocated to tourism saying the tourism sector was key in stimulating the lackluster economy.
Speaking at the ceremony Alliance Insurance group, ‘Makeabetsoe Mabaleha said as Alliance Insurance was intrinsically associated with the betterment of Basotho and their upliftment – evident in the companies inclusive array of packages which are aimed and tailored exclusively for their needs, this time around especially under the auspices of their 30 years of existence they wondered what it was they could do for Basotho this time around, hence the LTDC partnership.
“This partnership was proudly orchestrated by Alliance Insurance employees, together with LTDC we decided to launch the “Ke Lapeng” promotion campaign which was created to evoke a sense of pride for Basotho and to promote their tradition and culture which our valued tourists from outside the country love to explore and learn about.
“This Qiloane Landmark frame monument aims to reignite tourism through investment. Furthermore, there are many unsung heroes in Lesotho and this campaign also aims to expose those unnoticed hardworking heroes in our communities,” she said.
Alliance in collaboration with LTDC also relayed they will be erecting similar frames along the lengths and breaths of Lesotho (All ten districts). Among the various earmarked locations mentioned was Thabana – Ntlenyana in Sani Top, Mokhotlong which boasts the highest peak in Southern Africa, with an elevation of 3,482m above sea level.
LTDC CEO Mr. Tebello Thoola said as LTDC was created under the parliament legislature with the main aim of promoting tourism for investment, he said they as LTDC operated under three pillars, the first one being to promote Lesotho in Lesotho (domestic tourism) the second one being to promote Lesotho in neighboring South Africa and the third pillar being promoting Lesotho Internationally.
MR Thoola said when they were approached about the collaboration with Alliance they were happy because they could see the collaboration addressed the first pillar of domestic tourism aligned with our slogan which says “visit your country first” so Basotho will take pictures and share them on the International stage and those people will see that we love our country and they will in turn visit Lesotho and leave money in our country.