It won’t be business as usual for the hospitality and entertainment industry in KwaZulu-Natal, which is counting the cost of the devastating floods, which engulfed the province, leaving behind death and despair.
The Easter weekend is usually one of key tourism drawcards for eThekwini metro, with thousands of domestic and international visitors flocking to the city.
Head of Durban Tourism Phillip Sithole said the hospitality and tourism sectors were bleeding in the aftermath of the torrential rains.
“The expected number of tourists both from abroad and locally has dropped by close to 20% as holidaymakers are cancelling their bookings,” said Sithole.
This was exacerbated by the decision of the metro to close beaches during the Easter weekend. Several beaches and swimming pools were heavily polluted during the floods.
The city said it will lose over R30-million in direct tourism spend and more than 200 temporary tourism jobs will also be shed.
The township and informal economy were not spared from the angry floods as taverns, food outlets, filling stations, guest lounges and tourism businesses, the backbone of the township economy, were waterlogged.
Durban Chamber of Commerce CEO Palesa Phili said the frequency of storms hindered growth and development of the local economy. “The freight industry was hit hard because of the damage to road infrastructure. Goods are unable to be delivered on time to various destinations,” Phili said.
“This is having a negative impact on other key economic sectors such as agriculture manufacturing, tourism and shipping,” she said.
Phili said the informal economy and small businesses carried the brunt of the heavy rains. “Some small businesses may not recover because they don’t have big capital or insurance.”
The motor manufacturing industry such as Toyota in Isipingo had to halt operations.
Paper producer Sappi was also badly affected, having cut its operations to half capacity.
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