SIDESWIPED by the ongoing water crisis that has once again beset the South Coast throughout the vital December season, the local tourism industry is determined to find a permanent solution.
Accommodation establishment owners and managers worst hit by water cuts said they were at the end of their tether. They had spent the busy season dealing with disgruntled guests and frantically trying to cope with the prolonged periods of water supply interruptions that had exhausted even the best-laid contingency plans.
They were now assessing the damage done to what should have been an at least satisfactory season.
Ugu South Coast Tourism is anxious to tally the costs. Surprisingly, although many people have vented their anger through social media, neither the main tourism office nor the Port Edward office has received any water-related complaints this season.
“Once we have done a member survey we will be in a better position to comment on how the water problems have impacted on the season,” said tourism spokesman Deborah Ludick
Although angry and upset local business people are not pointing fingers and their approach is amazingly level-headed, the general consensus is they need to work together to solve, once and for all, water problems that for many years have plagued the South Coast with depressing regularity.
Port Edward was one of the worst hit areas and this has had serious financial implications for the town.
Gavin McKechnie, the managing director of the Pont Holiday Resort, said taps there had been dry from December 19 to January 2. This had cost the business dearly. He’d resorted to buying bottled water for up to 700 guests. Bookings had been cancelled and some guests had left early, demanding refunds.
To placate his guests, Gavin had given them 20 percent discounts for every day they’d been without water. He’d also employed teams of casual workers to keep the toilet cisterns topped up with buckets of river water.
“I don’t known how we would have managed without the river,” he said,
Gavin’s suggestion that business people hold a ‘constructive not destructive’ meeting with Ugu Municipal Manager DD Naidoo and his team, has met with enthusiasm.
“It is a fabulous idea,” said Penny Johnstone, of Van Heerden Letting in Uvongo, another area suffering water cuts. While the lack of water had been ‘shocking’ she called on business people to stay positive and to pull together to solve problems.
John Bainbridge, the general manager of the busy Port Edward Holiday Resort, also liked the idea of a meeting, but felt it should only be held once people had calmed down.
“The South Coast is hurting too much now,” he said. Although he’d installed storage tanks and made contingency plans his team had just managed to cope. Community support had been a major plus.
“I don’t know how we survived. Fortunately while I was gaining grey hairs daily, most guests were oblivious to the fact we were facing possible disaster,” he said.
Ramsgate business people had to deal with interrupted water supplies that had negative effects on their businesses.
According to a spokesman for Bill’s Best, a number of people had left because of the lack of water and some guests had been very aggressive towards staff.
However, most guests had been understanding and had made the best of the situation, she said.
Rather than dwelling on the problems, she advocated moving forward positively. By working together business people could find ways to improve the situation.
Judy Keuning, of Emerald Cove in Shelly Beach, said water storage tanks she’d installed had really saved the day, but even so she’d had to ration water from time to time.
Sadly, her establishment had received a negative comment on a travel advisory website regarding the showers’ low water pressure during the water cuts.
Tourism industry members praised local councillors who had kept them informed and ratepayer association members who had done all they could to help. They expressed appreciation regarding the way Ugu employees had worked so hard to restore water supplies and to provide updates.
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