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Big events continue to boost tourism and City’s economy
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Date: 2024-03-01 14:16:30

Big events continue to boost tourism and City’s economy

The Moses Mabhida Stadium is a multi-purpose venue catering for all kinds of big events. The stadium recently successfully hosted the ANC manifesto launch and the EFF manifesto launch previously.

ETHEKWINI Municipality continues to be the leading and preferred destination for hosting major events. This was showcased this past weekend when the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium successfully hosted the Mayihlome Rally, the election manifesto launch of the African National Congress (ANC) on 24 February. For the weekend of 23 to 25 February, an estimated 110 000 visitors flocked to eThekwini and enjoyed various attractions including visiting the popular beachfront promenade.

Of this total number, 2 200 were foreign visitors, 46 200 were domestic overnight visitors with 61 600 being day visitors, which also includes residents. EThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda said major events significantly boost tourism in multiple ways. “Over this past weekend, an estimated R297 million was injected into the City’s economy while the direct and indirect contribution to the GDP was R734 million. The short-term and longterm created employment equivalent was around 1 324,” he said. The ANC manifesto launch comes after the stadium recently hosted another successful manifesto launch of the Economic Freedom Fighters on 10 February. 

The City’s multi-purpose stadium, which has a seating capacity of 56 000, is now gearing up for the Inkatha Freedom Party manifesto launch taking place on 10 March. Mayor Kaunda said eThekwini is the home of big events as the City has the necessary infrastructure. “To continue attracting big events that boost local tourism and position Durban as a destination of choice, we will continue with our drive of partnering with event organisers that share the same vision and objectives as us,” he said. “ We do this through our marketing wing, Durban Tourism and annually advertise event partnerships so that we can work together to attract visitors to eThekwini,” Mayor Kaunda concluded.