The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini is concerned about the impending job losses in the city due to a lower than expected arrival of tourists in December 2022.
According to statistics given by the municipality, 702 735 people visited the city during the holiday season, compared to 900 000 in 2019.
This decline in numbers will translate into less income for the economy, tourism operators, street vendors, and businesspeople who rely on tourists during the festive season.
It is clear that the city has lost its position as the destination of choice, and if instrumental conferences traditionally held in our city leave and opt for Cape Town or other cities, the effects will irreparable.
The eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda seems unbothered that the drop in figures for 2022 was expected in comparison to 2019.
How does a mayor boast about a loss in revenue caused by the ANC led government failures?
Instead of accepting responsibility for the high levels of E.coli on our beaches, which drove visitors away, he chose to blame councillors who opted to protect the public by informing them of the dangers posed by raw sewage seeping into the sea, endangering not only their lives but also the lives of marine wildlife.
It is simply not enough for the mayor to claim that he and his administration are working hard to repair infrastructure and the city’s image to attract prospective tourists when experience has shown that Kaunda and the ANC are all talk and no action.
The DA challenges the mayor to provide an extensive plan detailing how the current issues will be addressed by the Easter holidays, the service providers who will be involved, a cost breakdown and how recurring issues will be addressed timeously.
What eThekwini desperately needs is a proactive approach to deal with all the issues that have been identified as obstacles to tourism and urgently deal with them before the next holiday season in at the end of March.