Durban - Xenophobia, visa issues and the poor state of the country’s economy have crippled the tourism sector in Durban and seen the number of visitors to the city drop by 2 million over the past five years.
A recent report tabled before the economic development and planning committee has exposed how the city has battled to attract tourists, leading to a significant drop in numbers between 2017 and 2021.
It showed that the number of people that visited the city in 2017 compared to 2021 had dropped by almost 2 million from 5 million to 3.2 million. The biggest decline was the number of international tourists that dropped from 339 000 in 2017 to 58 000 in 2021.
Domestic overnight visitors dropped by almost a million in the intervening period from 3.4 million in 2017 to 2 million in 2021, total overnight fell from 3.7 million to 2.1 million and day visitors dropped from 1.2 million to 1.1 million.
The report attributed the decline, pre-Covid, to the poor economy of the country and visa issues, while xenophobic violence also contributed to the decline of regional visitors.
“From 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the tourism sector and the direct international air traffic to Durban is still constrained,” said the report, adding that the 2021 unrest and floods had worsened the situation.
Add to this, the general increase in the cost of living meant that tourism, which is a luxury, was put aside.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said Durban Tourism had been doing a lot of work to promote the city, including marketing programmes, since the relaxation of Covid-19 regulations and there had been an uptick of tourists.
“This coming weekend, we are expecting multitudes of tourists to come to the city for the handing over of the kingship certificate to his majesty and the hotels are already fully booked.
“We are very optimistic that this festive season many people will choose eThekwini as their home away from home,” he said. He said they were working to get the beaches ready and the levels of E coli had decreased.
DA councillors Sakhile Mngadi and Geoff Pullan said the drop in the number of international tourists was of serious concern.
“According to the report, international tourists to the city were down to 58 271 in 2021 from 339 007 in 2017. This amounts to an 82% decline! The downward trajectory was happening before the Covid pandemic and so the excuses given by the tourism unit where most of the blame is out on Covid-19 don’t cut it.
“Tourists are now skipping Durban and this is having a very negative impact on the local economy,” they said in a statement.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said it was not surprising that tourist numbers had dwindled due to the crime, grime and vagrants seen in parts of the city.
“No one wants to visit a city that is dirty, and full of bad buildings, some of which are in the tourism areas.”
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