Durban ratepayers will pay R350 000 to send an eight-member delegation to London to watch an hour-long documentary on the city next month, according to Councillor Nicole Graham, the Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson on Economic Development and Tourism, Councillor.
The delegates will attend the launch of the National Geographic vignette showcasing Durban. The documentary forms part of a marketing partnership between Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and the National Geographic channel. The campaign is the first of a collaborative series of international activities set to promote South Africa’s urban tourism offering. It focuses on iconic tourism attractions and will showcase the diversity and multiculturalism of each city.
The city is sending the City Manager Sbu Sithole; the Deputy City Manager, Head of Durban Tourism, Phillip Sithole; Mayor, James Nxumalo; Deputy Mayor, Nomvuzo Tshabalala; and three members of emerging community tourism organisations, including Inanda, Claremont and Umlazi.
“While the DA supports this initiative, we do not believe it is necessary to send such a large delegation when a smaller one would suffice,” said Graham. “The launch is a fantastic initiative aiming to showcase Durban but the size of the delegation and the cost of sending it is simply an abuse of ratepayers’ money,” she continued.
“The mayor and head of Durban Tourism are able to represent our city and did not need any further accompaniment. The delegation as proposed at today's council meeting will cost triple what it should have had it been just the latter two,” said Graham.
She asserted the money could rather be used to establish local tourism at grassroots levels and said sending a small delegation would not detract from the quality of the National Geographic launch. “Showcasing Durban properly doesn’t mean a full delegation needs to be sent.”
Graham said that the DA is also concerned over the decision to send those particular community tourism organisations because none of the organisations being sent are properly constituted, fully functional or housed in an office.
"We cannot send these members overseas to invite people to their areas and then be unable to properly host them. We would support this initiative if the organisations are up and running, and should rather spend this money on ensuring this. It seems Durban Tourism has put the cart before the horse,” said Graham.
She added that the DA’s attempts to facilitate a workshop between emerging and established community tourism organisations with the aim of transferring skills to those new to the tourism sector had been ignored by Durban Tourism.
Comments (0)
Comments are closed