Relief for Tourism Dundee as council agrees to refund
The announcement was widely welcomed and hopes are that tourism will be back on track.
Relief is in sight for struggling Tourism Dundee (TD) after it was announced that Endumeni Municipality will start funding the organisation again.
Last Thursday’s 28th annual general meeting of TD heard that the legislated allocation had not been paid over for three years.
“This put a huge strain on finances, as the only income we have had is from membership fees and due to the downturn in tourism, following on from the pandemic, our members are also struggling financially,” Pam McFadden said in her chairperson’s report.
“We have been drawing on our savings to balance the books, pay salaries, do advertising and attend one or two tourism shows, but this is unsustainable.”
However, Cllr Naresh Gopie, who attended the meeting on behalf of the council, revealed that the allocation payments would be done every quarter, with the first one due at the end of this month.
“Tourism is a huge money spinner for our town, and private and public entities must work together for the good of the town in these challenging times.
“The municipality has already started the long-awaited project to repair potholes and street lights,” Cllr Gopie said.
He warned that ‘many large businesses are not paying their due rates to the municipal coffers’ and that this is putting Endumeni’s finances ‘under the cosh’.
“Everyone must pay what is due.
“Because this is not happening, the municipality is not always able to fulfil its obligations, like paying over the tourism allocation – so there is a chain reaction of negativity.”
Township tourism gathers momentum
“We are bringing out a digital newsletter for all members and those in the tourism sector to ensure that networking is achieved, and knowledge and events of the area is spread and not limited to a few hundred people at expensive trade shows,” Mc Fadden said.
Sandile Buthelezi, who heads the township tourism initiative, reported that this sector was growing rapidly, with many people going to Sibongile to enjoy cultural and musical shows.
He also offers regular free stalls outside his business, 20 Lifestyle, in a bid to give local crafts people an outlet to sell their goods.
He warned, however, that tourism committee members need to ‘become more aware of township tourism to ensure inclusivity rather than have the concept operating separately’.
This was readily agreed upon and steps are in place for the Heritage Weekend gathering in Sibongile, which will see arts, crafts and musical shows in place to attract local and outside visitors to the area.
More good news is that Umzinyathi District Municipality is to make funding available for various projects that include township tourism, the revival of the Gandhi Walk (at Burnside) and a bicycle race.
Finally, McFadden revealed that despite a downturn in tourism due to Covid-19 and the world economic climate, according to statistics gleaned by TD, tourism generated over R61 million for the local economy.
“The thing about tourism is that the benefits are sometimes nebulous.
“Businesses that are not directly tourism orientated (like restaurants, B&Bs, etc) also benefit – like hardware stores when a B&B upgrades, curtain and material shops, service stations, etc.
“Tourism is the one industry that can spread ‘the rands’ and that is exactly what is needed,” concluded a confident and optimistic McFadden.
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