Durban — While figures were not yet available, the hospitality and accommodation sector in Durban and Pietermaritzburg was pleased with the positive impact from the Comrades Marathon this past weekend.
The national trade association for the hospitality industry in KwaZulu-Natal said there were high occupancy rates in Durban, Maritzburg up to the Midlands.
“We can’t quantify it yet but all reports from establishments, especially the restaurants, are that the spend was good. It was generally a good weekend and a good boost for the economy as a whole, especially for the tourism sector,” said Brett Tungay, chairperson of Fedhasa in KZN.
He said that the sector needed such a good boost because there was “a lot of catching up to do after the last three years”.
He said it had been noticed that there were a lot of stayovers, with some people arriving before Comrades.
“And now we have some people staying post the event, which is brilliant for the tourism industry.”
He said the sector looked forward to the future with the Comrades back in full swing.
Tungay said while he could not say that this would mean establishments could now get back on their feet as those which remained open during Covid-19 had taken bank loans to stay open or had used all their reserves to do so.
Michele de Souza, the chairperson of the PMB B&B network and owner of the Greenlands guest house, said she had enjoyed 100% occupancy as runners descended on KZN for the ultimate human race.
She said that 50% of the runners who were booked at her B&B this weekend were those who had booked in 2020 and it was cancelled.
“The massive problem we had was with our insurers in 2020 because all those runners had to be refunded. We were very excited for the past weekend, especially after having had to pay all those refunds in 2020,” she said.
De Souza said she had runners from Kuwait, Nigeria, Kenya and Swaziland staying at her establishment.
She said the camaraderie of the ultimate human race had found its way into her establishment as she witnessed a first-time runner undertake the race on behalf of his father in-law.
“John Cunha from Kuwait ran with his father-in-law’s green number. His father-in-law was severely injured in an accident and is no longer able to run and allowed John to run and use his number. It was John's first Comrades,” said De Souza, who was given a video of Cunha being handed his green number by his father-in-law, Brian McCrindle, who had run 10 Comrades.
Daily News