The unpredictable condition of Durban's beaches — especially in the tourist hotspot of Umhlanga — has forced holidaymakers to gamble on vacationing in a city plagued by a poo-polluted ocean for more than a year.
The 10-day closure of two of Umhlanga's beaches shortly before the winter school break is estimated to have cost R50m in lost tourist spend, Umhlanga Tourism said.
eThekwini municipality reopened the two beaches, which had been closed because of high E. coli counts, on Tuesday — as parts of Durban were hit by a mini-tornado and heavy rain.
“The decision to reopen the beaches was taken following recent quality tests [that] confirmed improved water quality,” the municipality said, adding the beaches were safe to use.
It said discarded nappies and towels, load-shedding and vandalism were some of the reasons the Portland wastewater pump station malfunctioned, causing sewage to spill into the ocean near Umhlanga.
About seven beaches remain closed, including, Blue Lagoon, a few kilometres from Umhlanga, which was shut on Thursday because of pollution from the Umgeni River after heavy rain.
April marked a year since floods devastated the province, leaving more than 400 people dead and causing R17bn in damage. Under pressure from business, political parties and tourism groups, the municipality made some inroads into fixing the problems that saw the beaches closed for part of the December holidays. But just ahead of the winter school holidays, swimming was again banned at some beaches.
This week, holidaymakers in Umhlanga said they chose Durban over Cape Town because of the warmer weather and water.
Johannesburg resident Raylene Hersig, on holiday with her husband and two daughters, said they had come prepared to swim.
“We are aware of the situation with the beaches. We came to Umhlanga to get into the water but decided against it even though we heard the beaches are open.
We're sceptical to go into the water although the beaches here are open. We knew about the beaches, so yes we did take a bit of risk
— Holidaymaker Sam Matlaletsa
“There is a lot of debris and the water at most of the beaches is not looking great. We haven't been on vacation to Durban for a while and we decided to bring our kids here for a holiday.”
Hersig said she was “shocked” by the state of the city and the beaches as “nothing seems to have been cared for”.
Free State couple Sam and Pinky Matlaletsa were only prepared to dip their toes in the water.
“What we are seeing is a dirty beach,” said Sam. “It's a lovely town, but we are disappointed about the beach because we came here to get into the warm Indian Ocean,” he said, admitting they took “a bit of a risk”.
“We come twice a year. Some years back Durban beaches were not like this,” said Sam.
Pinky added: “The central beaches look worse. We thought it would be a bit better in Umhlanga but we found the same situation.
“But we love Durban despite all of this, way more than Cape Town. We love the weather this side in winter, it's great.”
Pretoria resident Lesedi Maleka said: “We love Durban during winter ... But we have been to the beach every day since we arrived and we've been very reluctant to go into the water.
“We had our swimming gear ready but the state of the water has made us scared. We don't want to take chances and become ill.
“I'm not sure if we will return for another holiday in a long time. It's beautiful but what's the use when you are scared of the beach?” said Maleka.
Umhlanga Tourism chief Duncan Heafield said the closure of many northern beaches was inevitable because of infrastructure challenges and load-shedding.
“It's a concerning issue that we have this constant infrastructure disrepair that tarnishes the integrity of tourism through our flagships.”
But he conceded the municipality “has been putting a lot of effort into trying to temporarily fix the latent defects of aged infrastructure”.
“On one hand I have some sympathy for the municipality but the adverse effects of what is happening is catastrophic for every single holiday period,” Heafield said.
Our guests love the hotel’s beachside position and feel privileged to be able to swim in the warm Indian Ocean, especially at this time of the year. So when they can’t swim, it really dampens their holiday experience and puts undue pressure on accommodation providers and beach-related tourism experiences
— General manager of The Oyster Box, Roberto Rosa
“Most hospitality businesses in the province rely on a holiday period timeline of six months of the year.
“Based on our calculations we have estimated a R5m a day loss for the northern corridor. Occupancy levels should be sitting at 100%, but are at the 70%-80% mark, which is not great.”
Heafield said uncertainty over the beaches has caused postponements and cancellations.
“People want to plan their holidays ahead of time. It's a challenge.”
Roberto Rosa, general manager of The Oyster Box, said the five-star hotel has been “very fortunate” to have an exceptional weekend in terms of bookings around the Durban July.
“It goes without saying that our beaches being declared unsafe for swimming provides an ongoing challenge that not only affects our domestic tourists, but international travellers as well.”
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