Indaba boost for KZN tourism
THE Annual Africa Travel Indaba, held in Durban each year, always provides a shopping list of massive investment projects that boost tourism and put money in the pockets of local businesses.
This year is no exception, with MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Sihle Zikalala rolling out a host of projects running into hundreds of billions at a breakfast briefing hosted by Tourism Kwazulu-natal and Durban Tourism this week.
What Zikalala did not tackle were the bottlenecks that have seen many of these projects delayed for years.
The R212 million Durban Cruise Terminal, which is now set to open for business alongside the Point Waterfront Development in 2020, the stop-start R40 billion Point Waterfront Development (PWD) itself, and the R7.5bn Durban Film City at the former Natal Command site come to mind.
Good news came largely in the form of private sector development to the north of Durban – including Tinley Manor Beach Resort, valued at R1.2bn, and the Blythedale Coastal Resort, valued at R350m.
Local government seemed to be driving the majority of inner city developments, starting with the PWD and including the R1.3bn upgrade of the Warwick precinct, as well as the R9.3bn Centrum government precinct development, which includes the extension of the Durban International Convention Centre, another hotel, the construction of a library and government chambers and the redevelopment of the Gugu Dlamini Park.
Zikalala also mentioned projects that have been under way for some time – the R25bn Cornubia mixed-used development, further developments at the Dube Tradeport valued at R13bn, the controversial R6.1bn Virginia Airport redevelopment – which is at risk of degenerating into a legal stalemate – and the Durban Iconic Tower, which will be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere at a price tag of R7.3bn.
While it would be interesting to fast forward a year for a report back on progress and the actual realisation of the tens of thousands of promised jobs in construction, it would be more important to revisit the strategic objectives outlined by the MEC in his presentation – increasing foreign arrivals, growing domestic tourism, increasing tourism spend, reducing seasonality, increasing geographic spend, promoting responsible tourism, promoting transformation in the sector and providing an enabling environment for tourism growth.
More than big-ticket investments, these could potentially provide sustainable income for the tourism industry in KZN.
It can also provide incentives for the development of small-, medium- and micro-enterprises.
As Zikalala pointed out: “Tourism is a new frontier to push back poverty and declining economies. It is the new answer to energising entire economies, not only in South Africa or the African continent, but the world at large. It has its tentacles in a myriad of economic activities, all set to prioritise tourism as a development tool.”
He noted that the provincial government’s focus was to create an enabling environment for private investment, thereby directly using the tourism sector as a catalyst.
He noted that without the private sector’s investment in accommodation, attractions and tourism services and facilities, and its knowledge transfer, there could be no tourism sector.
Zikalala spoke confidently of the tourism industry being poised for “a positive growth trajectory”.
Currently, tourism contributes an estimated 8% to the provincial GDP, which translates into a conservative figure of R24bn in financial terms.
“Our ambitions are centred on our Tourism Master Plan, which serves as the blueprint to increased tourism figures, especially with respect to attracting foreign visitors.
“We want to grow the tourism impact on the province’s GDP to between R65bn and R98bn over the next two years, which would guarantee the realisation of our target of creating 183 000 direct jobs over the same period.
“Ultimately, we want to attract 3.4 million international visitors by 2030. On the domestic front, we intend increasing our local market share to 16.3 million by 2020 and 24.1 million by 2030,” Zikalala said.
Evidence of what can be achieved through persistence was the announcement that British Airways would begin direct flights between Durban and London from the end of October.
“The investment and trade opportunities presented by this direct flight between Durban and London will undoubtedly add huge value to our economy,” he told delegates – a comment backed up by Dube Tradeport chief executive Hamish Erskine, who said the route would have a multiplier effect, growing travel and trade traffic.
This is a result of KZN’S Route Development Strategy, which aims to attract and support new and direct air services routes for King Shaka International Airport.