Durban - More than 21 500 Comrades Marathon runners will descend on Durban this weekend, and the local economy is expected to receive a R300 million boost.
Most of the runners, 9 432, are expected from Gauteng. Some are expected to travel with their families.
International runners and those from the rest of Africa account for a combined total of 1 500.
Durban Tourism head, Phillip Sithole, said the Comrades Marathon weekend was a welcome boost for the city and business people in the region.
“These are big numbers because that is just about 15 000 guaranteed people that will come over a period of a few days. The Comrades Marathon is quite huge for us, so we are excited because it boosts the local economy and it is great that we will have a lot of people coming from outside Durban,” he said.
Sithole said they were projecting an economic spin-off of R300m this weekend, a similar figure to last year.
He said this was because people were stretched financially with the slow pace of the economy and he expected people to be conservative when spending.
“We need this injection because the economy is struggling,” he said.