Durban – Poor weather conditions and the tough economic times have put a slight damper on the festivities at Durban beaches this festive season.
The eThekwini municipality said it had recorded a slight decline in the number of people who visited its central beaches over the past few days, but it was hoping the numbers would increase with the start of the events scheduled in the run-up to the New Year weekend.
The city counts on the revenue boost from thousands of holidaymakers who visit each year, and has previously stated that this year it was expecting close to 1.2 million visitors who would inject about R2.5 billion into the local economy.
“We have recorded a slight decline this festive season – for instance on Saturday about 26 000 people visited our beaches, which have the capacity to handle 36 000.
“On Sunday, that number increased slightly to above 26 000 people,” said Sibusiso Mkhwanazi, chairman of the festive season management committee.
He said although the numbers varied from year to year last year’s numbers were high.
“We think that the difficult economic times and the weather impacted on the number of visitors to our beaches.
“We believe that the numbers will increase with the start of the events,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said the complete picture of the past few days would be clearer on Wednesday.
Mkhwanazi thanked holidaymakers for keeping the beaches clean this year.
He also touched on the issue of safety, especially that of children. “The number of children who have been separated from their parents has declined.
“There were about 24 children who were lost, and all have been reunited with their parents.”
To tackle the problem, the city planned to give more than 100 000 wristbands to children, on which would be written the details of their parents.
“We have also been running an education campaign on radio and electronic media,” said Mkhwanazi.
While there was no drownings at the weekend on Durban’s beaches, on Tuesday Netcare911 paramedics responded to an incident at Umkomaas beach.
Netcare911’s Chris Botha said a man was caught in a rip current. A doctor pulled him out of the water but he was declared dead on the scene.
On Tuesday evening a man drowned at Dakota Beach, Isipingo, after going for a swim at the river mouth.
Botha said paramedics arrived at the scene and found that the lifeguards had started CPR, however the man did not survive and was declared dead at the scene.
The National Sea Rescue Institute has advised beachgoers and fishermen to exercise caution until January 2 as there will be stronger than usual rip currents owing to the spring tide.
The institute said the spring tide would peak on Thursday, but it had already started gathering intensity, meaning high tides would be higher than usual. It is expected to lose its intensity from January 2.