Durban - Tills are ringing, hotels are fully booked, and the weather has played its part to ensure that Durban remains the country’s favourite holiday playground.
As the festive season moved into top gear this week, hundreds of thousands of visitors entered the city to get ready for Christmas by the sea. Medical personnel, police and traffic and tourism authorities all put in extra hours to ensure that holidaymakers were cared for. Durban Tourism predicted a holiday cash injection of R2.8 billion.
The body’s marketing manager, Sibusiso Zondi, said: “Durban Tourism did all this to ensure that our visitors are welcome and feel at home. Importantly, it has given us an opportunity to ensure that our products are ready to welcome visitors and that we profile as many products as possible, including our hidden gems, to ensure that people are spoilt for choice when they arrive in Durban.”
He estimated that about 7600 jobs were created during this period.
Zondi also anticipated an influx of almost a million visitors by the end of the festive period.
Thuli Galelekile of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal said: “A number of our holiday- makers come to KZN to enjoy our beaches, and therefore Durban still remains a popular option, closely followed by the North and South Coast, especially for our domestic travellers.”
eThekwini Municipality expected the number of visitors to continue rising.
Chairperson of the municipality’s Festive Season Management Committee, Malcolm Canham, urged parents and guardians to be vigilant and ensure that their children were within sight at all times.
Canham also appealed to beach-goers to obey instructions given to them by lifeguards.
“Beach-goers should only swim within designated bathing areas, marked with red and yellow flagged beacons.
“The public may not swim at night nor should they swim at beaches that are not manned by lifeguards,” said Canham.
Popular malls like Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Galleria and Pavilion had already seen foot counts ranging from 1.6 million to 2.7 million but would only release the official figures at the end of the festive season.
Gateway said it had recorded a foot count of over 2.7 million to date, according to marketing manager Michelle Shelley.
About 1.6 million shoppers had visited Galleria by the time of publication.
Galleria’s marketing manager, Anusha Timul, said they had increased their security, cleaning and staffing complement, while SAPS and Metro Police were on site during the busy period.
The Pavilion’s marketing manager, Julie-Anne Zuma, said: “We have also noted that, as the festive shopping season commenced, there has been an encouraging increase in the value of spend per shopper, thus signifying an increase in the overall lifestyle.”
Charles Preece, from the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, said hotels throughout the province would reach capacity from this weekend until January 5.
“The Durban beachfront remains the focal point in the city. However, the occupancy levels are under immense pressure as more and more developments take place to the North, from uMhlanga to Ballito and beyond. Safety and security in Durban remain a massive issue,” said Preece.
Over the past two weeks, at least 500 children who went missing on the beach were reunited with their parents with the help of Beach Buddies and Child Minders.
Child Minders had issued 19044 wristbands to children so that they could easily trace them when their children were found on the beach.
About 23 beach rescues were carried out, and 156 people received first aid treatment, mostly for bluebottle stings and minor cuts.
Toll gates leading to the city were jammed, and the South African Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said that 54761 vehicles had passed through the N3 Mariannhill toll plaza on Friday.
KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of road fatalities with 125 deaths, followed by Gauteng and then Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. Earlier this week, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said 767 road deaths had occurred since December 1.