Durban Tourism Sector Bounce Back _CNBC Africa dicussion at Travel Indaba 2022

[Music] good morning it is a bright and early starter for us here at the africa tourism indubits the last day of the africa tourism in dhaba my name is fifi peters i'm pretty excited and delighted to be here at the indubba which is taking place as an in-person event for the first time in two years following the lifting of covet 19 restrictions of course i can tell you that the atmosphere so far has been quite a buzz people quite excited to be meeting each other once again in the flesh and a bit tired of all the virtual conferencing that has been taking place over the past two years this morning i can tell you that also the uh hot topic of a conversation is around rebuilding the tourism sector so several a hundred of the buyers have been in attendance and are still in attendance at this year's in dubba these are people from ikea markets for the african continent in terms of tourism the uk the us europe asia here to see what the continent has of course in store and has on offer for them to take back to their uh tourists in their countries there's several sellers also here from south africa and the rest of the continent just looking to a position their cities as a destination of choice so just given the fact that the lockdown restrictions have been removed in most parts of the world and travel and tourism is happening again but this morning we're focusing specifically on the city of durban and it's a tourism offering one can argue that the city has had it pretty rough in the last two years beyond the impacts of the pandemic of course the city was also the a place where we saw the worst civil unrest taking place in south africa as a democratic order that happened in july last year more recently we have seen the unfortunate and devastating effects of the flood that has wrecked uh infrastructure key roads key buildings it has a displaced to several hundred people also and unfortunately claimed uh several hundred lives so it's against this backdrop that we're having this discussion this morning on rebuilding uh durban rebuilding the city repositioning it as a destination of choice we'll be speaking to various experts throughout the session this morning just asking questions around exactly what it is going to take and where the areas of improvement on a local and a national government level are we look forward to your insights also do feel free to comment and join in on the conversation with us on social media we'll be keeping out for any of the comments that you might have feel free to tweet away but more specifically let us push on with this morning's program and i'd like to introduce my first guest at this morning i'd like to welcome councillor center madra he's the chairperson of the governance and human capital portfolio in the etiquetny municipality council good morning sir good morning fifi how are you i'm wonderful and how are you just given the fact that it's the last day of the tourism in dubba how are you how have things been going so far i know we are great it's exciting times for the city and for our people as you have painted the correct context that we are hosting this as devon casey and in the context of the pep foot of the floods that have devastated us in the context of the civil unrest in the context of covet 19 that closed many of our businesses and people lost jobs during that time and as the india we had to take a hiatus of two years without being able to see each other sell to each other in terms of their tourism and the other businesses and in the midst of all that um south africa took a bit of a knock economically so we are excited that we are back um africa was here the world was here our key markets um that we were that we sourced from way here same for china um which is still under lockdown but they were excited that the rest was here and it's exciting times for devon exciting indeed but so let's talk about the uh challenges that you have uh made reference to i think that's it's uh challenges that everyone is quite aware of right the pandemic the civil unrest and the flood so we're hoping we're hoping for the city's sake that uh that's rock bottom that there isn't another catastrophe waiting around the corner and that the rebuild and bounce back plan can actually really get to work so let's talk about that bounce back plan give us a road map of what that looks like thank you very much i think we have already started um you know last week when we had a meeting with the minister to plan for this event there were lots of skeptics around are we going to be able to host in the backdrop of um the infrastructure infrastructure having been washed off electricity in some areas and not being able to um be accessed and and all of that but we said we are resilient people as the people of this city and the people of this province and this launch is not only going this event is going to be a launch of our bounce back and it's day 3 today and things have gone on without a hitch and we're excited and we think um this is the first step that we've taken now what we have done in terms as a city in terms of our preparation for this hosting is that um one way we have said we want to reintroduce ourselves to the international markets as a destination of choice we were right on our way to that when coveted 19 hits and there we suffered in terms of like everyone else suffered so once we want to go back to the to the position we're in and even better it um we want to attract international visitors as a part of our strategy and our source market has always been your u.s europe and with a strong focus on on asia specifically china because those people travel and they travel in numbers and they buy when they travel and secondly we said we want to increase and improve on in intra-africa travel um when we started on the first day we had hemish was here as part of the panelist to talk about airlift because for that to happen you need your airlines to be on board uh you need your hoteliers to be on board i'm glad that part of your panelists here are going to be someone from their hoteliers because you need that you need to if you are going to improve and increase um on your uh tourist you need to ensure that they will arrive in your in directly to your city not via other cities and when they arrive there hoteliers are ready for them in terms of hospitality and we have world-class um hotel hotels in in durban and exciting news that will be announced as we move along with the with the program in terms of uh what we expect uh to come in terms of that so that is that is the strategy and luckily what we have done is that we've hosted a here in our stand we had nine community tourism organizations that the city funds to ensure that they sell their localities as part of a broader mix of our offerings as a city so that we don't only sell the city center but we are able to sell all the corners of the city and therefore it's a a very good mix we had nine of them here and i spoke to a few of them during our walk about and they were very excited that they've made connections with some of our international guests here they've struck deals they've made meetings they made commitments and some of the people were talking up to the delegation from um lesotho and botswana and they were saying they want to link up with um some of the ctos because they think that is a strategy that will put tourism in their own countries as well so we are very much excited indeed no it has also been quite exciting just to also see the reception from the rest of the market as you do speak about intra-africa trade i mean it stands from zambia mozambique essardini amongst the few that are here zimbabwe as well but all cities around the world right now are looking to attract tourism so the competition is it's pretty uh rife and therefore from what people already know in terms of durban's existing offering talk to us about the new developments that you do have in store and when when they are likely to start yeah um we besides the fact that we we dwarf other cities in terms of our temperate weather um that we have a summer all early year around uh which is hardly find any found anywhere else so we we that's that's our advantage to um as a province we have um the longest coastline um that is temperate so that's that's that's our advantage as well but in terms of the new developments what we have we have done is that we've linked up with um yeah the developmental side of the of the city in terms of your catalytic projects there are big projects that are going to be opened uh first you remember that we opened um we extended the promenade to ensure that the experience when you visit debbie is maximized we've recently opened the path for the cruise ships which then links to the promenade in that same point development at the point waterfront development we are going to have what is called the turbine eye and very soon we'll be unveiling um the preferred beta that is going to then take the project forward so and we've invested money as a city into that to prove how serious we are about tourism um very soon um i'm glad that mr reddy is here um we are going to be opening um in terms of your um um precinct um we are going to be opening um and the oceans and now that is a new experience that you are going to have in devon because one of the complaints that we used to get from our tourists is that while people come to deven because of the weather because of our nice hotels and everything that we have to offer but there's not much shopping that can be done in terms of exclusive shopping now that development is bringing that as a as an edge to us that you can have people from jobeck who are coming here welcome to then shop um dave and july is coming um some of the people who will be strutting their stuff there will buy from our going to be impressive as well so it's going to yes yes it's going to be in person um as i said that this is a first step that we are taking all our events uh signature events that the city is known for are going to be held this year and they are going to be at the full scale so um it's exciting besides the different eye that i've mentioned in the oceans um we took some of our hosted buyers and to some of our because we have very big on township and and perry happen um tourism so we took them to some of our new offerings like if you go up to inanda and there's a new potential hotel that is there in the area of it afleen and that hotel is world class i'm sure um our hotelier friend here on the panel will agree with us and then we are looking to improve on that to ensure that when you visit these areas you are able to also sleep there and enjoy yourself um some of the panelists who were here were talking about destination weddings so if we are going to do that um some of them will have to happen in the township and we we are very excited about it uh quickly uh in terms of all the offerings all the plans you have in store i mean we are still cognizant of the fact that we're not fully through this uh threat called the covet 19 pandemic in fact these slight talks around the fact that the fifth wave could be near i imagine that everything that you have spoken about and all those plans will be uh abiding by the covet 19 protocols just speak briefly to that in how your tourists and travelers will be safe from a covert 19 perspective thank you very much for asking that we i think the conflict 19 pandemic has taught us a lot of things one of which is that we need to be a responsible host but we also need to encourage responsible traveling now when we are talking about that we are not only talking about your coveted 19 steps that you should take in terms of being safe but we are also talking about your environment that we need to start caring for environment and ensure that um we we travel in a responsible way that reduces our carbon footprint and all of that but in terms of the developments um i must mention that i mentioned areas of the north in the west um which we want to expand our tourism and direction towards there's a a mall that is going to open in the area of inchongwin it's one of the biggest developments in that area um and it's going to be so turning soon because we want to link your tourism with business and we are looking um to expand our footprint in terms of business tourism and and there's no better place than where we are hosted in the icc uh which is a world-class um international eventing area and it has um we are we are ensuring that when we when we make our bid icc is at the center of that and other venues around the city that are well classed to ensure that we attract business travelers as well sure sure so i thanks much for uh setting the tone for us this morning just giving us a a brief outline on the city of durban's bounce-back plan to revive its tourism industry against the backdrop of severe challenges it has suffered in the recent past i was in a conversation with councillor incocente he's the chairperson of the governance and human capital portfolio at the etaguini municipality made reference of some of the speakers that we will be hearing are from in just a short while the hotel years such as sun we have got the prominent businessman and property developer in the form of mr vivian ready amongst other speakers that we'll be hearing from after the break will also be providing their opinions on the durban bounce back plan and exactly how and what needs to be done to make it a successful one so stay with us i'll be back with you after this very short break [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] energy is life we all need it so today to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet facing the climate challenge we are moving forward together towards new energies [Music] energy is reinventing itself and this energy journey is ours our ambition is to be a world-class player in the energy transition that is why total is transforming and becoming total energies so we need to produce people who are solution providers and that's why we have uh aggressively addressed our education system to try and transform it so that our people become top problem solvers to the extent possible we really looked at our whole agenda and we decided we wanted to totally transform our economy transform our system of governance we want to transform the way our people think and behave cnbc goes on assignment at food agriculture and livelihoods week at expo 2020 dubai we want to make sure we have a safe and secure world and people are found in a sustainable way when it becomes hotter and drier smallholder farmers will not produce as much as they should we hear from changemakers multinationals should be doing more there is an emergency now and innovators innovation can really make a difference in communities to increase productivity don't miss cnbc on assignment after two challenging years the africa travel in duba is back in physical form a platform for networking striking deals promoting africa as a destination of choice and announcing to the world that africa is open for travelling join syndicate africa as a panel of industry experts discuss how durbin's tourism sector will bounce back and strategies to rebuild urban tourism sector live from the africa table in darba on the 5th of may at 7 00 am central africa time [Music] well our focus as a country is of course our own country and africa uh first we want the integration on our continent to keep on broadening and deepening and as we strengthen our own economy we want to see an economy that reaches out to the rest of the continent because you've got a market of 1.3 billion people and it's wonderful to see south african companies reaching out to many parts of the continent it's a source of pride as i travel around and i mean south african companies small medium and big operating in various markets that to us just confirms our identity as an african country and that's where we want to be that's where we want to play and we also want the rest of the african countries to come and invest here so that it's not a one-way street so the africa continental free trade area is going to be a huge huge advantage for us [Music] this is my story this is his story this is the keeper of our story this place is engraved in the memory bank of my being as a compass of strength as i pioneer the new the unknown and dance at sight of the gifts you bear [Music] my story will echo over the plains of the karoo [Music] my spirit will give flight and fly free over this land to birth hope destiny and dreams my salvation and freedom are buried in the deep on the taller mountains [Music] back to where it all started this is where i journeyed i am home [Music] i am the flesh of my forefathers the adventurous the brave and the free i praise mother africa for her riches her coastlines stretching like hope echoing secrets memories and golden dreams we hold hands we cross rivers and bridges we obey the heeds of the land and this holy soil i stand unapologetic as your shores crash and bring in the tide of tomorrow signaling the call of new [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] and welcome back uh we are coming to you in this special broadcast this morning from the africa tourism indub being hosted by the city of durban it's a city that is known for having some of the warmest beaches in in the world and having several other uh fantastic tourist sites but it's also a city that has suffered several setbacks in the past two years beyond that of the covet 19 pandemic we all know of the civil unrest that did take place as well as the recent flooding and it's against this backdrop that the city of durban is hosting this conversation this morning and sharing its plans on its rebuild plans and how it intends on helping it bounce back better and stronger and so this morning i am pushing on with the program and i am joined by uh individuals who've got vested interests in the city and vested interest in ensuring that it's a tourism revival plan works i'd like to introduce them to you now as we continue uh this discussion this morning starting with the gentleman on my far left chiffula chibangwa who is the ceo of the tourism business council of south africa he is seated next to samantha croft who is the occasion director of operations at hotel group at zoho sun it's the largest supplier of rooms here in the city also we're joined by mr vivian reddy he's a businessman and property developer currently are busy with quite a uh an interesting uh project in the form of oceans and sangha it's a four billion rand uh mixed use development we'll be hearing a little bit more about it and it is also the host of the radisson blue hotel that will soon be coming on stream we'll be hearing a little bit more about that as well as seated right next to me miss she's the deputy head of durban tourism and the good morning to you all i'd like to just ask opening remarks just how how things have gone so far as the host perhaps it is polite to begin with you i mean you had expectations you had vision of how you wanted this event to be it is the last day that we're having this conversation have your expectations uh been met um thank you fifi absolutely um as the city of durban we're very excited that um eventually indaba um we were able to host it after the two years of not having you know um being able to host it and it really had a knock on the tourism sector now with indaba you know coming back and also the numbers you know in terms of the buyers that came the exhibitors that came the meetings that have been happening it's really been a very positive um impact for the city of durban and also the economic impact thereof in terms of the hotel occupancy you know the restaurants are actually buzzing the job creation in terms of the ecosystem of different businesses within tourism and this uh demonstrates that durban is always ready and it's actually a an emphasis that we are open for business because we've been able to host it without hiccups you know for the past two days um here at the icc debian icc complex and indeed we are looking forward to actually host much more and what is really positive is the feedback that we're getting from the buyers because we've been interacting with them through you know vital in terms of just keeping that communication and conversation going and indeed right now from as far as the usa as far as the uk africa and nigeria you know different countries in nigeria so that for us is really positive and what is even more positive is that they are going to be staying here adding two days you know yes in daba is the last day today but they are adding a bit more two days into their you know travel which actually extends you know the impact and positive economic spin that is the state of durban we are looking forward to getting from endeavour sure so positive economic spending i mean vivian what would you say some might have said that just given what has happened recently resources should have been uh channeled elsewhere to fixing the infrastructure the roads the the the buildings that have been damaged by the recent flooding uh from your perspective the tourism in dubba you know was it a mistake to host it yes i i think the tourism of dava has come at the right time when i drove around yesterday in durban i'm slung a rocks it's buzzing the tourism on dhaba is a show of confidence in the city and it's the best thing could happen we're actually in depression in this province you had the rights you had the floods 500 people have passed away and we need you know the tourism industry in davao has really been the medicine we needed to uplift our spirits and especially the tourism industry we've taken a beating you know and we've seen the figures and in the midst of it we are developing a 4.5 billion rand project which and then we got hit with the covert and then the upper the unrest and then the floods but we decided to persevere because in life you never ever give up and that's what we did and you know we're so great this ocean's project which is creating currently about 10 000 jobs which is really needed in the city and it's a 250 000 bulk square meter project which is the largest in south africa and during this covert period and the difficulties we've had we have opened at the radisson blue hotel opens at the end of the month say 650 million investment uh 207 rooms a great facility right in the heart of from zlanga but there's 1 500 people being employed then we've created a world-class mall that's something like it's going to be like santan city by the sea uh with all the international brands and what was amazing i've had some of the top ceos of the biggest international brands fly into durban and even after the unrest and when they what they saw in durban and maybe we as south africans don't see in our own cities the beauty of durban the positives and when foreigners we as south africans tend to look at things in the negative light and we are bringing in our with our international brand they bring in 500 million world of investments into the mall i mean it's a 1.3 billion mall is an absolutely unique mall a very niche mall which i'm slanga needs and we've created also a piazza a square that i'm slanger and devon doesn't have similar to santa city so we are very excited in dhaba is well needed and we are going to do things to bring more people into this province so through the midst of all the adversity you have continued to see uh the opportunity and you're forging ahead uh with your with your plans uh samantha just your take on a durbin as a city and it's offering as the largest supplier of rooms right in the city just how how does its tourism proposition presently stack up just given what has happened in the recent past i think as hoteliers um one thing that we've realized is that there's a whole lot of external factors that impact on our business and there's not much we can do about it you know the the issues last year with the unrest and obviously the flooding so for us it's it's critical that um we we work with the city to to rebuild and it's not necessarily just thing daba so this year's indobar whilst it's created a lot of vibe and excitement and and the short-term um jobs now um it's actually a long-term investment so we're gonna start reaping the rewards of of this week next year you know when the buyers are able to start packaging and putting all the the products together so i think we've got a lot of exciting products in durban now we've got to work with the city to get infrastructure rights and make sure that you know things like keeping our beautiful beaches clean um and just helping to mop up quite quickly so that we can bounce back i think a lot of us are resilient and we we don't realize how resilient we are um you know given all the factors that we've had to deal with which are actually external factors to our business sure largely largely beyond uh the city's control but uh the message that i'm getting is the elements that the city can take within this control to rebuild and come back a bit stronger but if you are just opening remarks from you so because you have been quite an active participant at this year's uh program involved in quite a number of discussions just care to share uh what has been discussed what your what your members are saying about the city of durban and it's a proposition as an investment a destination and tourist destination of choice well i think that you know the province of kazakhstan and more importantly the city of dubai is quite important in the village chain of tourism and we've been saying over the many years that uh you know we need to do more to make sure that uh you know the city of durban is known by everyone in south africa and the world over to make sure that you know we show the beauty we make sure that we show the capacity that we have here the products that we have the experiences and of course to make sure that uh you know those things that we have are turned into you know the products that the world can be able to come and see and of course for us you know when we talk about the tourism recovery it starts here at home and devon plays a very important role in you know showing us where the recovery is going from the domestic market and of course from the international market and within the continent so it's a very important place you know within the tourism value chain there's more that needs to be done but i think that over the past two years and the things that have happened that everyone has spoken about it showed that this city is resilient it showed that this city is the place where if you want to see that you know the people that are within the tourism space and the community at large are able to clean up and say you know we're going to move ahead forge ahead and we're going to be able you know to to bounce back i think that's quite important so we're going to continue with that and when we look at you know tourism in dawa or the travel in davao we said well you know many people said you know should we continue we said well we'll continue the one thing that we always have to do is to show that you know we trust our own value chain to show that we trust our own government to show that you know there is resilient within the system and for us there was no option but to continue and to support that was a good idea it was a good idea to go ahead with the plan that's the best thing that we could have had we could have ever done we were not gonna you know support anything less than what's going on now we need to show the world that we open for business and this is the place to show the world that we open for business so devon the right choice the right decision to continue and we need to make sure that we'll continue the same way and also support the smes that are here to make sure that you know they can say well tourism is back and they're able to say we can put food on the table sure but i'd like to um just get the private sector's uh view here uh when india if you if you don't mind just on on the plan on durban's plan to revive itself uh what do you make of it and if you are aware where do your members see an opportunity to partner with the city well you know we we here you know as you know products and services and experiences uh you know for for the tourists and for us you know we look at the city to make sure that the city does what the city needs to do from the public sector side let's make sure that the infrastructure is right let's make sure that the beaches are clean let's make sure that you know the supply of water this you know electricity the connectivity and so forth and so on transport and many other things to make sure that when we bring tourists here they're able to enjoy what we've promised them we should always remember that we're competing for the same tories that any other city is competing for so we have to make sure that our offering on the ground matches the expectation of the of tourism and there's a part that the city plays a role and i've seen i've walked around here in durban it's clean i've seen the beaches that's clean it's amazing the work that has been done because this devastation of the floods uh was not long time ago and the fact that we can come here coming from various provinces and we can be able to look at the beach and say wow it is clean and also there's a contribution from the private sector i've seen many hoteliers you know going out in the beaches and cleaning to show that we are committed as a private sector in making sure that the infrastructure is clean so i do think that the city has a role to play is playing his role we will continue to play our role as the private sector and we'll continue to make sure that in doing so we encourage the communities around us we encourage the young people that want to enter the industry we show them what the industry is made of we show the resilience and again i think it's just a wonderful thing to see this partnership continuing and we should continue in this way we should not be able to be telling each other what to do we should be collaborating and making sure that whatever the city needs to be offering is offered sure uh samantha i mean in this uh the past two years right it has been difficult for quite a number of businesses we have seen businesses uh shut down out of uh difficulty financially but we've also seen a a turn in in sentiments amongst others just questioning their uh position uh in uh several parts of the the country durbin included just uh talk to to to to us about zoho briefly i mean you you mentioned it just some of the initiatives in which you are partnering with the city but just uh talk to us more uh broadly about that and also your your your own plans as a a hotel group in the city i mean are you planning to open new hotels is is will the focus be on um you know maintaining the existing establishments and and what is the role of maybe smes or even young people to to to to partner with in in the foreseeable future um so we already have um over 1500 rooms on the beachfront so um i think we heavily uh invested in the city um amazon don't think there's room for for more products certainly not hotels um in durban at this stage so you know we we are involved in quite a few initiatives we have some hotels in um as well so there are quite a few um of the hoteliers that are that are involved in in the their own little precinct so we we um we are all members of our urban improvement precincts which clean up the beaches you know just recently we worked with durban tourism as well and we had an activation on the beach which involved beach cleanups because i think we're going to have to do it a little bit more regularly and not just after floods um but the collaboration is there in terms of the the human factor can go and pick up the litter um but when it comes to debris and things like that we we needed the city to get the tlbs onto the beaches to you know because obviously while the debris is there the beaches are closed because it's not safe to swim so um they're various um elements where we are involved in the city and we have uh city management on various whatsapp groups and and they're involved in various initiatives um to help us in terms of trying to keep it safe and clean and and you know they do listen um it's now just time for us to implement um some of the ideas that um that we come up with because you know we we understand that they've got quite a few areas that they have to focus on and obviously my best interests or my biggest interest is the beach front because that's where my product is um and and the city have got a whole city to look after so um they're various working groups and things that i think we should um get together and and and come up with workable solutions all right all right obvious no more space for new uh hotels in samantha's view but obviously you you bringing one it's been in the pipeline for a long time but uh you know in that and in your decision to stick with your uh investments within the city i imagine that there has been revisions since the original plan was drawn up just given all the setbacks that have taken place revisions on uh when you do expect to realize the return of your investments just talk to us about that uh broadly and uh exactly why you have continued to stick it out and the radisson blue was planned pre-covered sure big ballroom yeah 2018 you know it was great times and you know i'm also involved in sabaya casino and to tell you what's happening in durban and that was since they covered well we still got covered but what is happening conferencing is bouncing back i mean we got our survivor venue booked out for the next two years and we before though we haven't opened our radisson blue we've got 26 bookings already for our conference venue for weddings and function and we believe that people are tired of covert they want to go out and start living a normal life they want to meet with families and we sing the uptick and we're very positive we believe the amslangano is an exciting note it's got great amount of people the amslanga beach has thousands of people coming up there and we've created 3200 parking base in amslang rock some rocks doesn't have parking we believe it's a big income generator but also myself i'm now looking at opening up hotels and i think it's a nice place to do in the urban area in places like kwaduguzai limbo area that doesn't have hotels and that's what developers got to do we got to start looking at creating hotels in areas that don't have hotels don't have facilities where people come out there and they've got to travel far away but we are very very excited i'm very excited i know there's two new hotels are going to be opening up in amslangerocks and i believe if you prepare work if you create world-class quality and be the best people will come to you no matter what no matter what your prices are and people will still come to you i mean at the radisson blue we're creating massive presidential suites that's going to be the biggest in south africa sure and people want to ask who's going to stay there people will say it it's the same thing i mean i've been to talking to the ceos of the big international brands and one of the third biggest international brand does 300 million ran a year at one mall in south africa just selling high including they've seen the biggest increase in international brands in south africa uh there's been a massive increase if you look at porsche amazlanga rocks became the best uh selling dealership in the whole of middle east and africa durban is buzzing devon has got money our samaya casino is almost back to normal people are coming back and we believe there's a lot of money there's still confidence despite all the negativity and what we've got to do as developers and the people that are investors in the city we believe that durbin has got great potential and there are currently 4 500 homes not low class homes but homes being built around the amslanga sebaya node and it should and they are buyers i mean we have just sold we get inquiries for our apartment because we're building 600 apartments and every week we're selling 10 to 12 apartments very expensive five to six million rents and we think people have got great content we i'm very confident i'm very excited in the future of our economy and i believe that we as developers have got to stay and create jobs and right now there's about 30 new developments going up in the greater kwazulu-natal and even we've got the richards bay industrial zone there's a lot of things happening and i'm so glad when i go around and i talk to people that they say they're going to stay here put the money in this country and rebuild and that's what we've got we've got to be patriotic and not lots of people money are running away but they've made the money and they're fleeing it's wrong you've got to stay here you've got to help to rebuild the country irrespective of what's wrong we got to make it better and we are the ones that's going to change south africa not anyone else and we've got to put our hands up and put our money into it and i even call upon the banks to stop being more conservative and support projects and and if the banking system comes on boards in a bigger way we can create jobs and as business we can rebuild this country not government sure sure a message message uh taken and uh i think that quite a number of people do share your view to say that you know when when when the going gets tough and when the going is tough don't run away you know just stay in the country and and rebuild but unfortunately there are a people uh and business uh or winnie who who are leaving and uh it's because the investment case doesn't make sense anymore and i suppose it's within their right as well from a business decision there are also people who are on the fence maybe in doing a lot more business not only at a national level but at city level so your panel uh members here just speaking on behalf of business are quite optimistic i mean they are committed to durban they they see the value proposition but my my my question to you is what is your message to business that is perhaps on the fence that needs a little bit more convincing around the value proposition and the opportunities that the city has in store for them to partner what's your message to those people okay thank you fifi i think um in relation to that um you know position firstly i just want to start with the recent situation that we've had of the floods uh we didn't expect it it had never happened before and um we can say we maybe were never as ready as what it would require of us however in relation to that would have diluted the confidence however the responsiveness of the city in relation to the tenor round i mean building or rebuilding infrastructure in one week you know solid infrastructure to just make sure that the transport system for economic activity actually continues and also the responsiveness to like big investors like you know companies down in the south the toyotas etc because for us as the city we do realize and understand the contribution that those big companies you know make big investors make to the city as far as raids etc and job creation so it's it's all about the the responsiveness and to to to actually assure them in relation to reflecting on what you've actually done to say we are here as the city in terms of when there is investment where we need to whether it's development where we need to invest we actually do like in terms of radicand blue when they were a building we actually contributed towards the park infrastructure millions you know so that partnership is a continuation because when they knock on our doors we actually listen because we do understand that they have the ideas they are the ones that actually um you know come up with the ideas of business create the jobs and we create the enabling environment so we really assure the ones that are on the fence to say we are here as government let us work together and they will not really regret at all for their money that they put into the city and for us uh just coming back to the indoor situation here we are now there were doubts in the process however we have like the whole you know captains of industry in the travel industry that are converged here and we have really lived up to their expectations and really eroded the doubts that other people may have had and the other thing is to say with things that are in the pipeline you know in as far as um you know boosting the the tourism economy events etc we are actually forging ahead we are you know thinking ahead in terms of making sure that as the city when these visitors come in even investors when they come we are actually you know rolling the red carpet for them and we are actually opening up to putting incentives on on the ground so that they are able to you know have that attractive a value proposition as we offer in the city so really for us we are saying we're a very progressive city of durban and durban is indeed the place where investment you know is is where it has to be you know in terms of their their preference that's what we age them because we are really a growing economy we are not allowing ourselves to remain where we are but we are really fighting ahead and we age businesses to be with us and they will really not regret to their decision sure uh councillor uh was speaking about uh the importance of intra-africa travel before we uh win for a break and we've seen a quite a number of or a good turnout i think from the rest of the continents in terms of their uh exhibitions that are here within within the center so how how important is the regional travel in your view to the city of durban's revival plan okay maybe just to reflect in november where we hosted um a huge conference the intra-africa trade so that on its own it became a springboard for us in relation to saying the african countries in terms of investment in terms of trade etc converting into the city cleansing those deals as a springboard for future you know a trade um transactions so for us in terms of the regional travel it's important starting from sadaq as well as africa because we pride ourselves that one our positioning is right you know in terms of the port and two in terms of you know the economy of the country so a lot of uh um you know we we are actually ahead than you know most countries and in terms of what we are actually aging because the best practices that they look up to in terms of south africa and durban they actually attract them as well so in terms of their travel it becomes important for us because one it boosts the economy and it actually enables us to to be able to have more trade transactions happening within the african continent and that is what we are actually looking forward to and also the ease of travel because within the continent just taking sadaq and there's much a better use of travel and the traffic that comes in because most of the countries are actually land locked they're inland countries so for us as the city of the urban it gives us an advantage because we are coastal so with the the facilities and the aesthetics that we had the architecture that we have and the beach tropical it puts us in a an advantage in terms of the the the african you know um travelers and investors coming in and some of them they're actually coming to invest and build you know holiday apartments and their homes within the coastal so it's not just only travel but it's also in terms of just coming in and staying longer and bringing business here and continuing to to to to be business people and contributing to the rate of the city so that becomes very important for us sure obviously the rest of the region the rest of the continent whereas you're looking at your pipeline of orders and who is buying and potential customers that will be shopping from the uh retail outlet that oceans and how how important is the risk of the continent one of the reasons when we were thinking about this massive investment oceans we actually did research in the rest of africa and we looked at how many people come to durban how many people come to johnsburg and it's absolutely amazing and the reason also we picked the radisson blue brand they've got the biggest presence of all hotel groups in the rest of africa and people like that brand they see the radisson blue they will come to durban but what is so important that internet there's no international brands mega international brands elsewhere in africa except in south africa so people from they have a choice to come and shop in santon or cape town or durban but devon has a very big influx of uh visitors from outside of south africa and most of our tourism comes from africa and and that is a big sell to us and we believe and we see what happens with the flights coming in from africa and people can come to durban and have enjoyed the beach and now they've got this great international oceans shopping mall to go to and the thing about jonas brick is a great city but it's a business city there's no beach there's no game parks nearby oh yeah you come into durban you just drive up the road you've got great game parks and you've got and i personally think that the weather is great in durban it's not as windy as cape town it's not as cold as jonasberg so we've got everything going for tourism in this place and i want to just say that we are so blessed in the city we've got a department of tourism and economic tourism and economic affairs that department i invest around the country they're one of the most effective departments they are so business friendly that ocean's development that 4.5 billion development would not be up and running with one for the support of the city and largely the the department of economic affairs and tourism and we're very very excited and that's what and we're going to be investing more in the city we've actually planned another one and a half billion rents because we believe durban is the city to be in in what industry one and a half we put in one and a half billion brands we uh adding it's a mall there's more uh upmarket residential there's a very big uptake for real upmarket residential people there's a big migration towards the north of durban and people wonder why is there such a big demand for uh up market and places they come slanted off but what has happened in the areas like kwamawshi amlasi chatsworth and phoenix in those areas families have sacrificed a lot they even took sold the cars and and to educate their children and what has happened now the kids have gone out and educate themselves they become professionals and business people and now they are buying homes for the parents outside those townships in amslanga and their and other areas so that's the watch depend that is what's happening we're seeing a large intake of people buying properties and homes in the area because it's absolutely amazing how the uptake for residential units are in the greater amsalanga deva north area all right so the numbers clearly making a whole lot of sense for you in terms of uh investments and further investments but samantha and andrew i'd like to maybe speak about uh the areas of improvement because i think uh so far this morning we have just discussed on what is working and and what you like about uh the plan and your level of participation in the plan but i'd just like to understand where you think there are areas of improvement for the city to crowd in further development perhaps even at a a faster pace if you had to share one or two areas that you think could be improved samantha what would it be um i think there's there's a lot of improvement that we need to do in terms of environmental affairs you know i know i spoke about the beach cleanups and forgive me the beaches one of our our biggest things but you know even in normal circumstances normal rainfall we get lit and things that come down the rivers and they end up on the beach so we need to start looking at the the long-term solution which is further up the rivers what do we do with that waste um so that it the the rivers aren't polluted therefore the sea is not polluted so i think that needs to be a focus area obviously um the city's got a lot to focus on now after the recent floods and maybe this is not a top priority right now but it is something that that we we have to look at um in the future and then as an as an industry and i think uh spoke about it um during the sunday but so we need to you know be very good at south africans in terms of standards and making sure that products comply to international standards but i think it's also time for us to re-look at that and to see if certain things that are expected in hotel rooms and um services are still relevant because there's some things that we've been doing well that we currently do that we've been doing for 70 years um they might not be relevant anymore and things like a directory of services in a room um when lost did you when you stayed in a bedroom did you actually open that directory of services to see where you can find a florist and no one does it anymore you look at the the ingram dining menu yes but um the rest everyone knows dal 9 for switchboard so you don't those kind of things are not really necessary anymore i think that you know we've got to improve on making sure that our cities are smart cities we've got to digitalize sure we've got to make sure that uh you know when tourists arrive here they're arriving at a smart city where they can use their phones to do many things that they need to do within the city so there has to be that connectivity and digitalization that you know the city itself needs to focus on i'm sure there's a strategy but how do we implement it and how do we make sure that it's being used number two we need to get more airlines coming to the open we have to make sure that there is connectivity between derben and the african continent and the rest of the world so we've got to improve the airlift to make sure that there are more direct flights that are coming in the other part of this is to make sure that uh you know something that may not be the city competency we've got to make sure that you know when we build this connectivity we make sure that this ease of travel got to make sure there are visas and that's something that we're going to do from international improve our visa regime and many other things but locally we've got to make sure that when people arrive the roads are uh don't have too many potholes we've got to deal with that situation we've got to rebuild the infrastructure that that has been damaged we've got to make sure that the issues of environment that you know samantha have spoken about are dealt with cleanliness is important and more importantly the tourist wants to feel safe and the city you know has you know the the the the metro police that needs to make sure that the areas around the cities are safe tourists can be able to walk around and if we do that we should be able to impact more smaller businesses uh beyond you know the beachfront to other areas of the city so those are the some of the things that i believe that the city needs to focus on to make sure that you know when we go out there in the world and when deb and tourism go out there in the world when we market we're not faced with you know the difficulties of converting a person who's interested in traveling and the situation that we have on the ground the last part the city has to fund put more money on daventourism so that there can be more marketing there can be more branding there can be more visibility we need to see more adverts about devon we need to see a healthy competition between devon and other major cities you know here in south africa so more money from the city to the to the devon tourism is needed in my opinion more money in a very constrained environment is that is that likely in your view um i think it's about prioritization because um while in terms of tourism it's not a tangible you know it's a service however the returns from tourism because when hotels are full it's money into the city when these travelers coming there's a secular flow of income within the city the businesses are passing the restaurants are passing you know the different activities look now at in daba sure what is happening and look imagine the spin-offs that are actually going to be happening and indeed we really appreciate the advocacy that is coming from business in as far as destination promotion is concerned because really tourism contributes massively to the economy of the city and so it's very important for us to really have the resources and to be able to execute what needs to be executed and then coming back to some of the elements that they've highlighted um talking about you know um access sure we we are we are we are happy that so far you know within the recovery we've actually as part of the recovery process we've been able to have um you know the direct flights you know coming back you know in in february we had um the the the thing the the airlink you know from from from from from thing from namibia so for us it's exciting and through the roots development committee we are really having conversations but coming back to the budget issue when you have these engagements with airlines it's not just an engagement without some financial injection because there has to be that investment you know from a two-way and also investing into sustaining the route because for the airline to be sustainable there has to be destination promotion and there has to be bombs on the seats of the airline so it becomes a rifle effect in relation to what the resources are for uh to to to to enable uh the the the the massive and maximum you know marketing or promotion of the destination all right okay no point taken lastly last word to you so just regarding areas of improvement uh it has been shared by samantha and you have come across as perhaps the most excited uh business person uh to be doing business uh in durban you're dropping billions and billions but areas of improvement for more business people such as yourself to participate in the rebuild plan absolutely and before i come back here let me tell you what is one of the shortcomings of durban in durban we don't have enough top quality international restaurants and what we've done at oceans we brought some of the best restaurants in johannesburg some of the big nails because most of the people from jonasberg they come to domino from jonas back and you know restaurants are familiar names and when you come to the oceans mall you'll see some of the finest restaurant the big name restaurants and we believe that's also a part of tourism and bringing people in and coming back to the question you ask about uh more areas we believe that there's lots of opportunities here in durban uh to create we've got to start being more creative about the tourism you know it's not all about hotels it's about theme parks it's about entertainment we've got to do that and and it's very very important that we've got to introduce high-tech entertainment uh you know like it called made about uh you know you don't have these menus and uh well maybe the menus all your displays in the um in your in a book and hotel room i mean at the radisson you're going to find it all on the tv screens on your phone when you enter and that's what people are looking and that's what we've got to as an industry in the wholesaler we've really got to start being high tech we should really start changing the way we're doing work because too many of our businesses are stuck with old technology it's a new technology uh that's going to work it's a new technology that's going to make us success and also what's happened we've got to have more confidence we've got to be brave in our decisions we tend to overthink about things before we make decisions making becoming an entrepreneur and making decisions about thinking about now thinking about now the concepts and circumstances taking the big plans and never be fearful for your investments have confidence you got to go out there if it's not working fix it up get people to fix it up and that's what you got to do and that is how we're going to grow this province and the economy all right so we love the international brands we love the the luxurious offerings but for locals who are hearing you and thinking you know where where where can they play a role what's your message what's your message to you you know in our brand we've got a lot of the local brands that i've removed more importantly we're even creating place for traders we're

2022-10-11 00:28

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