Durban - HOTELS and guest houses in KwaZulu-Natal will receive a welcome boost when domestic travellers flock to the Drakensberg and the beach for the long weekend.
However, the sector is not out of the woods yet, as it will take months before it fully recovers.
This is according to KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala, who highlighted the recovery of tourism during a Covid-19 media briefing in Durban yesterday, saying the reopening of the economy under lockdown alert level 1, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday, was a “boon” for the sector. The tourism sector was one of the biggest contributors to job creation.
He said Covid-19 had “come at a huge cost and devastated our economy”.
“We have had to contend with closure of businesses, loss of jobs and livelihoods. Our entry into alert level1, after midnight (last night), means most sectors of the economy will now be open. We really should see this as an opportunity for us to restart our lives and rebuild our economy. One of the most effective ways in which we can do this is to support the South African economy, and our small- and medium-sized enterprises, by buying goods and services that are produced locally,” he said.
“We are excited to see that there are already ‘good or nice-life problems’ that we are hearing about in the hospitality industry. There are areas where people are beginning to struggle to get accommodation due to places getting fully booked,” Zikalala said.
He said occupancy rates ranged from 95% on the Midlands Meander to 75% in Pietermaritzburg, 65% in eThekwini Municipality, 60% in Illembe and 30% in Ugu, Zululand, and Ezemvelo KZN resorts.
Zikalala said the government welcomed several new investments in the tourism sector, including South Africa’s first Hilton Garden Inn establishment, which was scheduled to open at uMhlanga Arch in November 2020. The 203-room Inn is owned by the Multiply Group and property development company Devmco.
Other developments included the new First Group luxury wedding venue, Swallow Cliff Hall, which has a seven-suite villa in the Drakensberg, and the reopening of the Edward Hotel under ownership of Tsogo Sun Hotels in November this year.
“These investments are encouraging and are huge signs of confidence in our hospitality sector,” Zikalala said.
He added that all government workers would be expected to return to work under level 1.
“There is now a need for all departments and municipalities in the province to review some of the arrangements made at the peak of the virus and ensure that the public service reports back to work in full force so that it can drive the rebuilding process. We are directing that all of us prepare ourselves for the return to cover lost ground.
“We have to rebuild as if we are emerging from the ruins of a major war, and we need all our troops to fight the battle,” he said.
He said the government would, in coming weeks, launch the KZN Economic Recovery Plan - which would outline interventions to stimulate the economy.
Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa KZN chairperson Brett Tungay said while resorts were booked for the long weekend, the government’s occupancy statistics were overly optimistic as many establishments, especially those in northern KZN, relied on foreign tourists for up to 90% of their business. He said with the announcement of the easing of lockdown regulations and the opening up of international travel, tourism businesses had started receiving booking enquiries, but these had yet to translate into concrete business.
“With the school holidays and long weekend, occupancy is looking good. Most places will be full,” he said.
“But I don’t think the tourism industry is really going to recover for another year. Just in terms of the physical mathematics behind it, with airline flights into South Africa and airlines having gone broke, I don’t even see that South Africa is going to get back its inbound seat numbers. It is really is going to take quite a while before we can even get seat availability back into South Africa,” he said.
The Mercury