Durban - Over one million tourists visited Durban during the festive season which saw an increase of 138 486 visitors compared to 2017, according to the eThekwini Municipality.
The influx of tourists had a direct impact on the economy which resulted in over 9 100 jobs being created, an increase of 1 100 jobs created compared to the same period the previous year.
Sbu Zondi, a senior manager at Durban tourism told the city's executive committee on Tuesday that the Summer Love campaign saw R2.7 billion being pumped into the economy through direct spend by the tourists which resulted in a R4.5 billion Gross Domestic Product contribution.
He said 47 percent of domestic overnight visitors were from Gauteng, with 18 percent from the Western Cape and 9 percent from the Eastern Cape. Swaziland was the highest foreign source market followed by other SADC countries.
Regarding tourism performance, there was an 81 percent room occupancy in 2018, a growth of six percent compared to 2017. There was also a growth of 797 722 overnight visitors to the City in 2018, an increase of over 90 000 compared to the previous year. The direct spend of overnight visitors on the City in 2018 was R2.5 billion, an increase of R400 million compared to R2.1 billion spent in 2017.
The direct spend of day visitors was R2.7 billion in 2018, an increase of R500 million compared to the previous year.
“We sell a basket of goods, not just one element when we market the City both locally and internationally. We started from as early as February promoting the summer campaign on television, radio and in print to get people to make the decision early to come to Durban on holiday. We started marketing the festive season campaign in July selling the promenade lifestyle experience which is the beach, hotels and restaurants. In September we were highlighting all the attractions in the City and come October last year we went full blown with the festive season campaign.”
He said the Summer Love campaign aimed to boost domestic travel and encourage visitors to Durban while the Discover More Summer campaign’s objective is to boost travel post festive season and encourage travel at low peak season.
The events hosted in the city were also outlined as they served as the “hook” to get visitors’ interested in the city. Some of these included the Telkom Semi-Final Knockout, the Fill Up Moses Mabhida Stadium and the ANC January 8 Statement which had over 100 000 spectators and approximately 30 000 visitors.
Zondi said there were 379 349 visitors to the city attending events of which 153 524 were overnight and 225 825 were local residents. The hosting of the various events also resulted in 5 213 jobs created.
EThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede said she is excited about the festive season performance.
“We as city leadership are happy with the enforcement, police visibility and traffic control. There were less incidents and we congratulate the team from Metro Police, the South African Police Service, private security, the Fire Department, eThekwini Transport Authority, the Parks Department, Durban Solid Waste, the Communications Unit, Durban Tourism and all other departments for a job well done.”