Our Coastal Mecca
Saturday, September 5th, 2009Well, Saturday’s paper confirmed what many have been thinking for a long time even given journalistic licence.
‘Tourists Avoid the Crime and Grime’. Anyone involved in overseas tourism to this province knows that. There’s a route from Joburg to the Kruger to Zululand to the Cape to Joburg and off back home (and vice versa).
The fact of the matter is that most of these tourists don’t stop in Durban. The airport happens to be here, that’s all. At least if they need to overnight, they might stay in town but with the new airport in La Mercy, they will stay in Ballito or Umhlanga and miss Durban altogether.
Some local tourism worthy adds ‘What us Worry? - we have local tourism. Anyway when the marketing of Durban for 2010 kicks off in a month or two, we’ll really get going and pull them in’.
Firstly, doesn’t this character realize that even the locals are getting peed off with the crime here when they can stay in other coastal resorts with less of the violent crime for which Durban is infamous? Minitown is being downgraded (to kraals and shacks I believe), the Snake Park is history and now the Bird Park is going. The Lido and the Little Top have gone. Waterworld is a pale imitation of what was. And I nearly forgot the Animal Farm (now the casino) that provided endless enjoyment for loads of kids.
The other complaint is the street renaming - hopefully to be kicked out. In which case, Sutcliffe should bear the cost himself. I gather, even outside the flawed selection process, he stuck his finger up some orifice and came up with a few hundred additional names to quietly append. When we finally get rid of this egregious individual I suggest that we rename the toilets next to the Post Office as the ‘Sutcliffe Memorial Latrine’ as a fitting legacy. I bet not a single individual in Durban would oppose that.
As the tourops say - ‘We will have to tell tourists - “This is where that was” and “This is where this was”.
Whoopee. I think we should demolish Sutcliffe’s flat on the Point and tell the tourists that was where the architect of the degradation of a once beautiful city once lived.