Tourists flocking to NMB
By Guy Rogers Environment & Tourism Editor, EP Herald
11th May 2006
TOURISM in Nelson Mandela Bay is worth about R4,7-billion a year and the city is making good progress in realising the value of this sector, NMMU Centre for Tourism Studies director Peter Myles said yesterday.
Myles said recently released statistics showed that more than 75 per cent of the foreign tourists who visited the province also visited Port Elizabeth.
"This confirms the worldwide trend that metropolitan cities, especially gateway cities, are the engines that drive the tourism economy of a province. It is at gateway cities where the critical mass of tourists for provinces is generated. If tourism is not growing in gateway cities, it is highly unlikely it will grow in the province.
"Mandela Bay must strive to develop products that will not only give tourists a reason to visit, but reasons to stay longer and spend more money."
Mandela Bay seemed to be succeeding at doing exactly this, he noted.
"It would appear that we receive about 400 000 foreign tourists a year worth about R2,8-billion, and about two million domestic tourist trips a year worth about R1,9-billion – together totalling R4,7-billion."
Myles said he could not confirm the figures published in the latest Mandela Bay annual report noting that for 2004/05, compared with the previous year, foreign tourists increased by 25% from 400 701 to 500 877 and domestic tourists increased by 202% from 1,87-million to more than 5,65-million.
"These assessments are highly complex and interpretations can differ.
But, he said: "Clearly, whatever the case, we are making good progress."
Standing by the figures in the report yesterday, the councillor responsible for economic affairs and tourism, Mike Kwenaite, said they added up to good news for the city.
"Business tourism in particular has contributed. More and more people are coming here to launch ventures. Events like Iron Man have also increased visitor load dramatically."
Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism spokesman Phumeza Mgxashe said recent positive growth could relate to better information gathering.
"But hopefully they are also related to our marketing strategies beginning to pay off."
The figures in the annual report correlate broadly with the figure communicated to NMBT that Port Elizabeth airport arrivals are growing at 20% a year, she noted.
Speaking from Durban, where she is attending Indaba, the annual international tourism expo, Mgxashe promised more "good things in the pipeline" for the region.
Tourism Services Association Eastern Cape chapter chairman Hugh Bartis said the growth in local tourism seemed to be related to the exposure now being given to the city.
PE Metro Bed & Breakfast Association chairman Walter Passet, whose organisation represents 85 B&Bs around the metro, said the major tourism marketing drive in the city over the past two years was certainly a factor behind the growth.
"There is a far greater awareness of the importance of tourism in the Eastern Cape and the NMBT has come alive.
"We are capitalising on the mistakes that Cape Town has made by staying too long on the dollar system.
"There is recognition that we offer better value. I would expect that we are growing at quite a lick."
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