The City of Durban and some of its tourism products raked in major awards at this year’s World Travel Awards, after being announced as Africa’s leading City destination and Africa’s leading meetings and conference destination.
Furthermore, the Hilton Hotels and Resorts group was named Africa’s leading hotel brand and South Africa’s leading business hotel, while Oyster Box hotel won the accolade of South Africa’s leading hotel.
The Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda says the awards are a reassurance that Durban’s tourism products and services are of the world standards and an affirmation that Durban is a global destination.
“These awards give credence to our long-held view that indeed Durban is a leading global destination and as we go into the festive season, we are optimistic and confident that this will give the much-needed impetus to our marketing efforts and translate into increased number of visitors,” he said.
Kaunda went on to explain that this is as a result of the working relations that the City has with trade partners and that the City can only grow from here.
“If you look into our new and upcoming tourism products closely, you can clearly see that we are on the right track in terms of using tourism to drive economic development and growth. An example, we just welcomed a new Garden Inn resort under the Hilton group in Umhlanga and them winning major awards is an indication that we are doing something right in terms of investment attraction,” he said.
Kaunda further stated that Durban has a number of other major projects in the pipeline, as part of the City’s catalytic projects. “We are confident that, upon completion, Durban will claim its rightful position as Africa’s leading tourism and investment destination. In addition, we are developing new tourism corridors in township and rural areas to ensure tourists visit beyond urban areas of the City,” added Kaunda.
The World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.