Cato Manor hoping to lure tourists as sector rebounds

uMkhumbane Cultural and Heritage Site in Cato Manor. Picture: Roy Reed

uMkhumbane Cultural and Heritage Site in Cato Manor. Picture: Roy Reed

Published Sep 30, 2021

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DURBAN - LOXION Tours together with Durban West Tourism under the leadership of Durban Tourism, testified to the steady recovery of the tourism sector following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Tshukudu Moepadira, the chairperson of Durban West Tourism, the tourism sector was showing a slow but steady rise in the number of tourists returning to Durban.

“The tourism industry suffered greatly over the past 18 months, but we are seeing an increase in the number of tourists. We are hopeful that by the end of 2022, businesses within the sector would have picked up by at least by 70%,” said Moepadira.

Moepadira said Durban West Tourism was formally launched in 2009 as a non-profit organisation that aimed to encourage the participation of local businesses, especially in townships, to be part of the tourism sector.

The city also took part in the promotion of Loxion Tours through the co-ordination and facilitation of socio-economic development activities.

“Our focal point as the city is ensuring the co-ordination and facilitation of socio-economic development of our local communities, like Cato Manor. It is also important to note that these developments not events, but projects that will take time,” said Mhlengi Gumede, eThekwini Municipality’s Cato Manor area base manager.

Loxion Tours took some guests and stakeholders on an uMkhumbane tourism route that featured the Cato Manor Heritage Centre, the uMkhumbane Cultural and Heritage Museum and the Heroes Acre cemetery in Chesterville.

The uMkhumbane Cultural and Heritage Museum was in 2017 the overall winner of the Africa Architecture Awards. The building is a heritage site where the mother of the late Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, Queen Thomozile Jezangani KaNdwandwe, was reburied on May 8, 2011.

Heroes Acre cemetery in Chesterville is a burial site that commemorates South African heroes, including Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, who died on September 16 this year, and Senzo Meyiwa, the Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper who died on October 26, 2014.

There are several restaurants in and around Cato Manor that serve local cuisine, such as Mojo’s Car Wash and Shisanyama in Chesterville.

“The purpose of the event was to showcase Cato Manor as a tourist destination and that Chesterville has reopened its doors for tourists,” said Gcinokuhle Dube, the director of Loxion Tours.

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