Durban tourism the yardstick in South Africa’s economic recovery

Published on : Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Durban proved effective in 2019 and boosted South Africa’s tourism economy, and now they hope the same after pandemic pause. South Africa recently opened tourism for travellers arguing that it will assist in the country’s economic recovery from corona virus pandemic. Durban- one of the oldest cities in South Africa was though not very popular among tourists traditionally, has gained sweeping popularity recently. But in 2019 it attracted several tourists travelling to Cape Town or Johannesburg.

Unfortunately pandemic affected all, and now with time as business leaders are optimistic about the situation they are opening borders to attract inbound tourism and accelerate economic recovery. Durban bucked the trend. The Kwazulu-Natal province where Durban is located saw international tourist arrivals increase by more than 17 percent in 2019, according to the organization South African Tourism. But the growth momentum wasn’t enough to offset the worst year on record for travel.

South Africa and other African countries have generally fared better during the pandemic than places like the U.S. and countries in Europe. South Africa’s 745,000-case total, as of Nov. 13, puts it between Iran and Germany and well below the 10.6 million cases reported so far in the U.S. But Durban officials agreed with the South African government that a national lockdown was the best approach in combatting the spread of the virus earlier this year.