uMhlanga Beach reopening brings waves of visitors
Both Main and Bronze beaches in uMhlanga were opened on Christmas Day.
IN the lead-up to the festive season, uMhlanga’s beaches remained closed and were mostly deserted as residents and holidaymakers avoided the popular destination due to water-quality concerns.
This was in part due to substantial damage to the sewerage infrastructure network, with the Ohlanga Sewerage Pump Station (Blackburn), in particular, affecting uMhlanga.
High E. coli levels have seen the popular beach destination closed for more than 250 days last year.
Both Main and Bronze beaches in uMhlanga were first opened on December 1, but in less than a week, were closed again due to health concerns.
Then, on Christmas Day, the eThekwini Municipality gave the green light to reopen the beaches, which in part has led to visitors and locals flocking to the village.
Read Also: uMhlanga beaches reopen after being given green light by eThekwini Municipality
Chairperson of Umhlanga Tourism Duncan Heafield estimated that between December 20 and 24, the northern corridor lost close to R45m in revenue.
“While that period was catastrophic for the tourism industry, there has been a positive impact since the beaches were reopened. There have been some unbelievable last-minute specials for accommodation and restaurants along the northern corridor that have garnered keen interest from local Durbanites. Unfortunately, the initial closure meant we lost out to many visitors coming from out of the province. Since Christmas Day, there has been an influx of visitors and locals flocking to the beaches.
“It just goes to show how our beaches are the lifeblood of tourism. This has been a very short window but a welcome one for businesses to rebuild to some degree of the pre-lockdown normality. My hope now is that the municipality can maximise its resources to repair sewerage infrastructure. I would say, for now, much has been bandaged, but I know that a large part of the sewerage reticulation system still has to be fixed. We all know that the health of people accessing the natural resources comes first, and my hope is that the eThekwini Municipality will continue spending money on repairing sewerage infrastructure to avoid the opening-and-closing approach it has adopted,” he said.
