Durban faces a critical challenge as it prepares to host the 2024 Africa’s Travel Indaba. The iconic beachfront, once a vibrant hub, is struggling with a rise in crime and a decline in municipal maintenance, causing tourist numbers to dwindle and businesses to shutter.
The closure of Funworld, a beloved beachfront amusement park, a year ago, served as a stark warning sign and triggered a crime wave. The owner, Nic Steyn, struggled to sell the establishment for 12 years before eventually shutting it down. Nearby hotels reported a surge in crime following Funworld’s demise, adding to the already unmanageable levels of criminal activity. The beachfront became a crime hotspot and thus a deterrent rather than an enticement to tourists, both foreign visitors and locals. A nearby hotel was forced to slash its rates from R1 300 to R700 a night to stay afloat.
An anonymous hotel manager told The Daily News that many hotels in the area were on the brink of closure because it didn’t make sense to continue operating under increased crime rates and a lack of guests.
Hotels combat crime
The GM of the City Life Smith Street Aparthotel confirmed to Travel News that crime was impacting operations and had led to a decrease in tourists.
“You can’t prevent crime but we’re doing our best,” he said. “We have built a quick response system here with security staff and we take precautions such as allowing staff to leave the hotel early so as not to walk in the area in the dark. It’s about being in the right place at the right time,” he said.
According to crime statistics released by the South African Police Service, Durban has among the worst rates of murder and rape in the country. Community-reported serious crime at Durban Central Station has risen to a level second only to Cape Town Central. eThekwini municipality police stations were also in the top three national stations for attempted murder and sexual offences and the top ten for rape, trio crimes (robbery and carjacking), and other serious related crimes.
Despite these high statistics, Durban Central district was one of few municipalities to record a decrease of 12,1% in crime in the last quarter, and the SAPS defines this statistic as an indication of the deployment and law enforcement’s proactive measures.
Despite what SAPS says, hotels feel the need to make their own plans and are rolling up their sleeves. City Life is not the only hotel taking a proactive stance against Durban’s crime levels. City Lodge Hotel Group, with two hotels in the Durban beachfront area, said City Lodge Durban staff had had to take matters of security and maintenance into their own hands. Brenda Botha, GM of City Lodge Hotel Durban now serves as the Chairperson of the North Beach Business District, working with the Urban Improvement Precinct whose mission is to improve the security and cleanliness of the district.
Botha said she also offered advice to visitors on which are safe areas to visit and which areas to avoid as well as advising on safe walking and running routes near the promenade. The hotels also have 24/7 security personnel.
Durban’s dirty secret
While crime is a major concern, City Lodge highlighted another crucial factor – infrastructure issues, including sewage spills leading to beach closures.
A Durban-based tour operator who spoke to Travel News on condition of anonymity, believes it is infrastructure maintenance that is the key issue driving tourists away from the beachfront.
“There are concerns about safety, but the thing that has caused the tourist numbers to drop in Durban is the maintenance of the city. Some tourism locations are dirty, buildings are not well looked after.”
The tour operator added that the city did not enforce proper management of its homeless population.
“There are people sitting on the street and they should be managed better and told where to go. Now everyone is putting up tents all over the place, even on the pavements, so you can’t even walk.
“The municipality needs to make sure that that the city it is maintained well so that it can create a good picture of the city,” he said.
Asked by Travel News for comment, KwaZulu Natal Tourism said: “Tourism KZN is working very closely with the City of eThekwini and law enforcement agencies to ensure that delegates attending Africa’s Travel Indaba will be safe while doing business and visiting in KwaZulu Natal. There will be visible policing around the city, particularly in the tourism nodes that will be frequented by ATI delegates as well as around the Durban ICC Precinct.”
Durban Tourism referred the request for comment to eThekwini City Spokesperson Gugu Sisilana who told Travel News, “In a bid to strengthen smart policing, an operational control room was set up last year at the Boscombe Place Metro Police near the beachfront where all surveillance cameras along the promenade are monitored from the station.”
“The Municipality also invested about R40 million last year to fix defective outdoor surveillance cameras as part of the City’s concerted effort to ensure the safety of residents and tourists. This major repair and upgrade in technology has enhanced the City’s ability to detect crime before it occurs as well as maintaining law and order."
“The City of Durban is confident that once again the 2024 Africa’s Travel Indaba will be incident free and a resounding success.”
