Durban — Dube TradePort CEO Hamish Erskine said the safari offerings across the African continent had “re-boosted” tourism, from Durban to Zimbabwe and Lusaka, in Zambia.
Erskine was speaking at the Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban on Thursday. He said the safari offerings were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but were beginning to take off again.
Erskine said the number of tourists coming into the region fly through the King Shaka International Airport, in their quest to explore the rest of the southern African region, and venture through Africa.
“The KZN tourist attractions are very strong, and tourists will always want to come back to explore the region, because of what it offers them. That is why it is important to ensure that the packages offered are attractive to tourists. We also receive a lot of tourists from the rest of Africa, who flock to our province because of the attractions the region offers,” Erskine said.
He added that the provincial government had begun renovating regional airports in the province, such as Mkuze, Richards Bay and Margate, for tourists to be able to fly to the destination of their choice with ease.
“In Durban, we never give up, in KZN we never give up. The Durban weather, as well as the warmth of the people, are other attractions to the city,” said Erskine.
Durban Tourism deputy head Winile Mntungwa said there had been an influx of visitors flocking back to Durban. Mntungwa said that the eThekwini Municipality had intervened in supporting the tourism industry. Mntungwa added that the teams that worked on municipal infrastructure had tried very hard to fix it after the April floods.
“Trade came on board into the rebuilding of Durban,” Mntungwa said. She said the advantage that Durban has is that it is land-, sea- and air-based, in terms of transportation, so tourists have a variety of transportation modes to choose from.
“Road trips are more popular with the locals because they want to save on transportation, as air and sea transport are more pricey than road travel,” Mntungwa said. The other good aspect of road travel is the scenery that the travellers enjoy when they drive through the region, Mntungwa said.
“Because our neighbours, such as Swaziland and Zimbabwe, are landlocked, Durban becomes the first choice for those who choose to explore the southern African region,” Mntungwa said.
Managing director of MSC Cruises SA Ross Volk said they offered those who enjoy sea cruises between 36 and 40 trips a year, and the industry was growing. Volk said the R10 million invested in the Durban port terminal would increase the capacity of the cruise ships that docked there. This way Durban would be increasing tourist cruise numbers by large margins.
“This year alone we have provided employment to around 784 South Africans, especially to the youth of this region, but our target is to provide more than 1 000 jobs to the people of Durban and surroundings,” Volk said.
Volk added that they always clamoured to procure produce needed to feed tourists during the cruises from local small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME). Volk added that they always tried to procure as much as possible, especially from around Durban’s agricultural food producers.
Oceans uMhlanga Mixed-Use Development CEO Brian Mpono said it took the philanthropist business tycoon Vivian Reddy two-and-a-half years to get investment in Durban in the Oceans Mall in uMhlanga from the world’s iconic fashion brands.
“From that point it has taken off, and today we have people travelling from as far as from Dubai for the shopping experience at the Oceans Mall, something they would usually have done at Sandton and the Cape Town Waterfront. We have brought Durban back to where it belongs,” Mpono said.
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