The eThekwini metro and Fedhasa (Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa) celebrated the news that the Hilton Durban hotel would open its doors “shortly after” its closure in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reintroducing five-star accommodation in the city centre. .
A source close to the hotel industry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the personal hotel is preparing to open in about 4 weeks.
The Hilton Durban closed in January 2021 after the Hilton Group made the decision to close more than 1,000 of its hotels internationally due to the sharp drop in profits caused by the pandemic.
In 2022, eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said plans were underway to reopen the hotel that year, but nothing happened. In January this year, municipal administrator Musa Mbhele told a council meeting that the city was considering taking over the hotel. This referred to a condition in the deed in the hotel’s name that it had to operate as a five-star property, or the city could simply ask for redemption.
A spokesperson for Hilton the Mail on Tuesday
eThekwini township spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the municipality had a Covid-19 fee relief plan that had “helped allow the hotel to reopen. “
He said the reopening of the hotel, which has more than 300 rooms and is close to the Albert Luthuli International Convention Center, will benefit the city’s tourism economy.
“The reopening will also strategically magnify the city’s business case when it applies to host domestic and foreign conferences. Convenient accessibility is also a merit, as for dignitaries and visitors with a high security risk, there is no long distance with all the amenities required for the business in question.
Fedhasa East Coast President Brett Tungay said the hotel’s reopening would primarily benefit the city’s business travelers and conference center.
“The [convention center] has high-end hotels for the VIP delegations that attend meetings there,” he said.
He added that the closure of the hotel had probably had a negative effect on a few occasions in the city in terms of high-end accommodation, but added that the tourism sector in KwaZulu-Natal had been severely depressed in the last 3 or 4 years.
The sector is still keeping an eye on the pandemic, the floods of 2022 and the riots of July 2021, as well as municipal strikes, pollution by E. coli in rivers and beaches and the struggle to ensure safe wastewater treatment, Tungay said.
“About 89 percent of the province is not affected by those things, but when Durban sneezes, the rest of the province catches a cold. We were affected in Drakensberg when the beaches were closed in Durban, our occupancy rate has fallen even though we are not close to the beach. We are trying to change the situation,” he said. This year we’ve had an incredibly smart travel experience with positive feedback, but choices create uncertainty. KZN has such a negative belief that we have to revise to combat it.
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The provincial Social Development Secretariat said that the food bank “is under investigation,” which delays the signing of the contracts.
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