KwaZulu Natal’s tourism sector is on the road to recovery with steadily rising numbers of visitors at game parks, beach resorts and camp sites beating pre-COVID levels recorded in 2019.

This is according to Acting Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea) Department Head, Fikiswa Pupuma, speaking at the launch of KZN Tourism’s Winter Activation campaign at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve on Saturday (June 24).

She said the province anticipated a boost of R1.4 billion (€69.1m) to its economy this season.

Pupuma delivered the address on behalf of Edtea MEC, Siboniso Duma, who could not attend the event.

“Based on current hotel and B&B bookings, KwaZulu Natal can expect at least 430 821 domestic tourists and 48 842 international tourists to visit during June and July, providing a combined direct spend of over R1.4 billion for the provincial economy,” Pupuma said.

According to her, said the province anticipated that 70% of the country’s domestic tourists and 60% of its international travellers would visit between mid-June to mid-July.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Senior Marketing Manager, Siphelele Luthuli, said the province’s conservation arm had grown its tourist numbers by 65% to exceed pre-COVID levels. The number of visitors to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife facilities increased from almost 40 000 to just over 66 000 in 2022, beating its pre-COVID figure of 56 385.  

Tourism markets

Luthuli said the region was popular with “sentimental” visitors and with tourists from the Southern African Development Community who usually descended on the province in high numbers in September and November.

“We have sentimental travellers who are coming because their great, great, great grandfather and grandmother used to come and we want to retain them and make sure the generations keep coming back because, without bums in beds we would not have salaries.”

However, she said domestic tourists needed to be encouraged to explore the province more.

“Obviously there are challenges because tourism is viewed as a ‘non-essential’; people would rather visit their relatives than pay a price to travel. We would like to encourage everyone to travel. We offer an affordable, accessible adventure and unique experiences,” said Luthuli.

Seven million tourists in 2022

A total of seven million tourists visited KZN during 2022, which translated into direct economic spend of more than R19 billion (€935m) for the province.

“Our goal is to continue increasing the number of domestic and international tourists as we rebuild and expand our tourism sector, which will continue to be a key focus area for provincial government,” said Pupuma.

iSimangaliso Wetland Park Executive Manager for Tourism and Business Development, Jabulani Ngubane, said nature conservation and tourism were contributing to job creation in the region, which had a very high unemployment rate of 42%, of which 41.2% were youth.

“We have started with commercialisation at iSimangaliso so that we don’t rely on government grants. We have hired the youth to clean up and green the towns.”

Ngubane said that under the Expanded Public Works Programme, a total of 1 588 young people had been employed to clear alien invasive plants from the region, while positions had also been created for 127 tourism monitors and 130 environmental monitors.

Film tourism brings benefits

Pupuma added that the province had also benefited from film tourism, which was on the rise in South Africa.

“Most recent productions that used KZN as a backdrop are the television series Reyke, The Woman King, a historical epic movie with an all-star cast that was a blockbuster across the globe, and the classic telenovela Shaka iLembe,” said Pupuma.

KZN Tourism CEO Phindile Makwakwa said the tourism authority was driving its marketing via digital platforms and social media to grow brand awareness and draw tourists to the region.

Upcoming events on the winter calendar in KZN in July include the Durban Film Festival, the Ballito Pro-surfing contest, the Hollywood Bets Durban July followed by the Dundee July, a traditional rural horse trotting event, and Currie Cup rugby fixtures.