The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini considers a report outlining the city’s “improved” tourism performance tabled at a recent eThekwini Executive Committee meeting as inaccurate and not a true reflection of the actual tourism performance.
During the 2018/2019 festive season Durban saw an increase of 16%, with 138 486 more visitors than in 2017/2018.
The 16% increase in visitors to Durban were mainly visitors from other provinces that attended either the “Fill Moses Mabhida event”, the ANC January 8th statement/manifesto launch or one of the many events held by the city over the festive period.
Of the 138 486 more visitors that visited Durban, approximately 30 000 (31%) attended the ANC manifesto launch, 6 000 (4.3%) attended the Fill up Moses Mabhida stadium event and 17 000 (12.3%) attended the Telkom Derby.Almost 50% of the increased visitor total can be attributed to attendance at these three events or several others that received funding from the city’s coffers.
The DA is concerned that the city has been more focused on holding events to increase the number of visitors to Durban, perpetuating the misconception that our tourism sector is thriving. Simply put we are paying people to visit Durban. This is not sustainable, we need to create a conducive environment for real growth.
Of the total number of visitors who contributed to eThekwini’s GDP during the festive season (379 349), 60% were local residents and only 40% were overnight visitors.
We have not been significantly tapping into the foreign tourist market and have not been able to successfully attract foreign tourists that would stay longer and make a considerablly greater contribution to eThekwini’s GDP, ultimately contributing toward much-needed job creation.
The last festive season saw only a 16% increase of 1 119 more new jobs created since 2017.This is not good enough. The DA is convinced that the Tourism industry is a key enabler is tackling the huge unemployment crisis in eThekwini and that more needs to be done to create a vibrant ,thriving tourism sector that is able to unlock more permanent jobs.
Whilst the City’s festive season tourism events are not a bad thing in principle and should not be excluded, the DA is of the view that the ANC-led City administration has failed to clean up the city as well as deal successfully with the crime that has been keeping many tourists away.
Under a DA City government ,eThekwini municipality would attract foreign tourists by diversifying eThekwini’s tourism offerings and ridding the city of crime and grime, thereby boosting Durban’s tourism potential and ensuring greater economic impact.
We will focus on:
- boosting township tourism
- offering more architectural and heritage site tours
- ensuring that all museums are open and fully functional
- making eThekwini safer
- tackling dilapidated buildings
- improving service delivery
The Democratic Alliance will continue to build One South Africa For All and will fight for real tourism growth that will ultimately create jobs for the thousands of unemployed residents who are looking to government for help.