Durban — EThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has been encouraged by the positive tourism outlook for 2023.
As a result, Kaunda has called on Community Tourism Organisations (CTOs) to work with the city to promote Durban as the preferred destination for both local and international tourists.
The mayor was speaking at an engagement with the leadership of nine CTOs in the municipality today, February 1, to enhance strategies to promote their product offerings.
Kaunda said the meeting took place at a critical time when the global outlook for the tourism sector looked positive for growth. However, it requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders to work together.
“There are signs that the sector is gradually returning to pre-Covid-19 levels. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, global travel and tourism GDP (gross domestic product) is expected to grow by 5.8% per annum on average over the 2022 - 2032 decade.
“Furthermore, tourist numbers into Durban appear to have displayed resilience as passengers into King Shaka International Airport have increased by 321%, when comparing the latest flight destination figures of December 2022 to their most recent all-time low in July 2021. We are currently observing a dramatic increase in international visitors as more international airlines are opening new routes in Durban,” Kaunda said.
He also cautioned the industry that with an increase in inflation, a decrease in real wages and the high cost of living, Durban should ensure that affordable, yet quality products are easily accessible for middle-income consumers who may not want to give up plans to travel.
Kaunda said since corporate meetings, conferences and workshops have reverted to in-person attendance, Durban stands to benefit from increased traffic and should prepare its corporate facilities.
“Another opportunity that we have observed is that work from home or flexible remote working has resulted in previously inland (Gauteng) based top executives relocating to KwaZulu-Natal fully or partially. Ballito and uMhlanga appear to attract more high-spending tourists and semi-residents into the province and Durban should work to market itself to this tourism segment,” Kaunda said.
He said as the global economy threatens to be dangerously sluggish in 2023, luxury travel and tourism, in general, are at risk of being sacrificed for necessities. Durban should therefore ensure that it continues to have affordable prices for visitors.
Some of the challenges raised by the CTOs included prolonged load shedding, inadequate funding to market their products and ageing infrastructure.
Kaunda assured the CTOs that the city was hard at work to repair water and sanitation infrastructure that was damaged during the floods last year.
On the sore topic of load shedding, Kaunda said the government was considering declaring a national state of disaster because of the electricity crisis.
“We are optimistic that if this intervention is going to follow the same approach that government adopted during Covid-19, we will see government providing energy support to tourism products which cannot afford to invest in the necessary equipment. It is also important to highlight that as the city, we are forging ahead with the procurement of 400 MW of alternative energy (300MW gas and 100MW solar) from Independent Power Producers in line with our Energy Transition Policy. A concurrence has been received from the provincial government to proceed with this programme,” Kaunda explained.
He also assured CTOs that the city will continue to assist them with funding of over R255 000 annually per CTO to market their products. This amount will increase by 10% in the next two years.
Kaunda also urged CTOs to continue to be good ambassadors of the city to ensure that Durban remains top of every traveller’s mind.
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