Safe season for uMhlanga Tourism

EVEN though official statistics have not been released yet, Umhlanga Tourism said it is confident that it had a safe and fun festive season.

One of the major highlights was the Umhlanga Summer Festival which has been running for more than 10 years and takes place annually at Main Beach. In the 2018 season it began on Friday, 14 to Friday, 23 December 2018.

Umhlanga Tourism’s Peter Rose said, “The festival was  successful especially because the weather was always on our side. We did not have to cancel or postpone any events due bad weather or anything of that nature.”

Also read: MEC thanks holiday makers for visiting KZN 

As expected thousands of visitors flocked to the various uMhlanga beaches. Rose said even though it has not been confirmed yet, but the crowd on the beach decreased when compared to other years.

“It’s only now – after New Year’s Day that more people are coming in. I think people avoided coming during the December period because it’s generally full,” he said.

When it comes to safety, uMhlanga beach has been rated as one of the top beaches in the province. Rose said he’s glad that with the hardwork of life guards and the public’s coorperation, they were able to minimise the number drowning incidents.

“Unfortunately we lost one person to our beaches. The man broke the rules and went for a swim after hours when no life guards were on duty. One of the staff who was around when the incident happened managed to pull him out of the water but sadly he later died in hospital,” said Rose.

“Restaurants and guest houses were also evidently busy. We are working on releasing the exact statistics  in the next few week,” concluded Rose.