Durban - The number of tourists who visited Durban during the past festive season dropped by almost 200 000 compared with the same period in 2019 as tourists shied away from the city amid concerns about poor water quality at its beaches.
According to statistics released by the city yesterday, during this past festive season 702 735 people visited the city, which is a drop compared with 2019, when 900 000 people visited the city.
The 2019 figures were referenced as this was the last “normal year” before the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic which led to lockdowns and restrictions that disrupted tourism.
Speaking during yesterday’s briefing, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda admitted that the odds were stacked against the city amid sewage pollution that led to the closure of some beaches, a barrage of negative publicity and the city being criticised – even by members of its council – in the run-up to the festive season.
Many beaches have since been opened, but others still remain closed and Kaunda said this was to ensure that they were safe for use when they were finally opened.
Giving a breakdown of the tourism numbers, Kaunda said despite the challenges experienced due to the April 2022 floods, the city was proud that “Durban lived up to its tag of being Africa’s playground”, with 702 735 visitors arriving in the city.
“Apart from enjoying the sea, sand, sun and surf, visitors were also treated to a number of signature events such as the Durban Jazz Festival, Fact Durban Rocks, Woz’eDurban and many more.
“All these activities brought thousands of visitors to the city as the accommodation occupancy rate reached 65%. This translates into 702 735 visitors with a direct spend of R1.5 billion, over R3.8bn contribution to GDP and 7 775 jobs,” he said.
Drawing a comparison between the tourist numbers in 2019 and 2022, Kaunda said it was expected that the city would not meet previous figures.
He said besides the challenges caused by the storm damage to the city infrastructure, there were people in the city who were actively campaigning and encouraging tourists not to come to eThekwini.
“You had people actively telling tourists not to come here.
“Everywhere there are problems, even in other countries there are problems, but you do not find the opposition parties actively telling tourists not to come there,” he said.
He said because of the storm damage, and the perception that beaches were closed, people changed their bookings and went elsewhere.
Kaunda said they would look to build on the festive season figures to attract more tourists in the Easter holidays.
He said as part of the work to see growth in the sector, the priority would be to get the basics right, such as fixing sanitation infrastructure.
Kaunda said he was concerned about the number of international tourists who visited the city, pointing out that Durban did not seem to be in the mind of world travellers when they visited the country.
He said the municipality would make a concerted effort through marketing activities to profile itself better and attract the international market.
Brett Tungay, KwaZulu-Natal chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa), said the tourist numbers were not as bad as had been feared.
He said to improve the situation going forward, the municipality must fix the wastewater issues.
He added that to encourage foreigners to visit the city, the city would need to ensure there were safe, clean beaches and streets where foreigners could walk without the fear of being robbed.