Visitors give city much-needed financial boost

NUMBERS have been tallied and the city has confirmed that over 200 000 visitors chose KZN shores to enjoy during the festive season.

Throughout the festive period, between December 15, 2021, to January 4 2022, the city recorded over 80% occupancy rates across its accommodation establishments. Restaurants and eateries were bursting at the seams with tourists.

Having raked in close to R150 million over the Christmas weekend period alone, mayor councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, said the city would not take its foot off the pedal. The contribution to the city’s GDP is about R350 million.

Locally, the Bluff was no different, Community Tourism Organisation (CTO) Sodurba said some of its members recorded a substantial increase hitting a 90% occupancy rate.

“The stats on visitors saw a huge increase to the city, but also to Sodurba area. It is evident that our national tourists are hungry for a holiday at the beach. Sodurba will carry on developing and growing tourism in our area and expand existing projects even further.

“Sodurba is also taking part in the eThekwini PEP (Public Employment Programme) for the next six months to improve tourism attractions in the area,” said treasurer, Helga du Preez, who added that they are very hopeful to find suitable office space this year and to start branding the Whale Heritage Site with murals.

In a statement, Kaunda, said he was elated about the festive season preparedness which assisted the city to re-cement its place in the country as a tourist mecca. He said the city desperately needed the financial boost that was raked in over the festive period.

“When it comes to tourism, we are not taking chances. That’s why we have got our Festive Season Management Committee (Fesmac) that assists us to meet the needs of our visitors. We will forever be indebted to the people of eThekwini for their unrelenting hospitality.

“We desperately needed this development for we were bruised by the pandemic and multitudes of our people lost jobs. I am happy that following these figures, means we are doing things right,” he said.

Addressing the media in Durban recently, Premier Sihle Zikalala, said many visitors were excited to spend their holidays in the province.

He said the past two years of lockdown had been very difficult for the tourism sector, however, the province clinched on opportunities and overcome setbacks imposed by the pandemic.

“The tourism industry, by and large, is still hurting as we continue to battle the pandemic. However, we are encouraged by seeing the positive signs of buoyancy in our tourism economy.

“We noted that on the Christmas weekend alone some parts of the province recorded hotel occupancies of over 80%, especially in Durban and iLembe District.

“This is exciting news indeed. The occupancy rate averaged around 65% across the province. These are not the final festive season figures, but a good indicator of what could be expected when the final tally is presented at the end of the season,” he said.