eThekwini municipality pleased with growth in township tourism

Durban Tourism Head Philip Sithole says he is excited about the growth in township tourism in the eThekwini metro over the festive season.

Sithole says from the first week of December last year nearly 1 million people visited the city, with a direct tourism spend of R2.7 billion.

About 110 000 people attended events in the metro over the festive period, with township events attracting 42 000 people.

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The city is planning more events for the coming weekend. Sithole says the events have created 2 700 jobs.

“And the number of jobs that were created in the events that took place, they were close to 2 700 people. But if we include the entire tourism spectrum, we are talking to something close to 20 000 people. These are temporary jobs. But the tourism industry in terms of permanent jobs, it employs close to 50 000 people here in eThekwini.”

Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)