This year Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) is taking place against the backdrop of an exciting new era for the host province, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), with a number of key catalytic tourism projects coming to fruition.
Significant progress has been made in projects – including the R2 billion (€97 million) Club Med South Africa offering a beach and safari experience, the Westown Precinct and the redevelopment of Southern Sun’s flagship properties on the Durban Beachfront.
Tourism officials and private-sector leaders provided updates on the status of the projects during the Durban-KZN Business Breakfast, which kicked off on the first official day of ATI today (Tuesday, May 13).
Chris du Toit, Project Director for the Club Med South Africa resort, due to open in June next year, said construction is approximately 50% complete.
“Construction progress has been fantastic. We’ve had a very wet summer, which has posed challenges, but we’ve been fortunate in terms of staying on target by the specific date,” said Du Toit.
The Club Med property – together with its sister property, Mpilo Safari Lodge in Northern Zululand – will boast 486 keys, offering in excess of 175 000 annual room nights, along with a 500-seat convention centre.
More than 800 direct jobs will be created as well as 1 500 indirect jobs and 1 200 construction jobs.
Du Toit described procurement from a targeted 70 to 100 local suppliers and subcontractors as a particular success story.
“Club Med has formally requested the details of all of our furniture and equipment suppliers in South Africa because they were so impressed with the quality and price of the locally produced products. So some of these suppliers will start supplying internationally from now on,” he said.
Direct flights to France, UK and India
The developers of the Club Med resort have played an instrumental role – in close collaboration with public-private sector initiative Durban Air Access – in lobbying for the establishment of a direct Air France flight between Paris and King Shaka International Airport with discussions reportedly at an advanced stage.
Musa Zondi, KZN’s MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs said the city is exploring additional routes to India and the UK.
“We are additionally ramping up our regional airport infrastructure development so that access to some of our high-end safari and game reserves – popular in markets such as Germany, the UK and the USA – is easier,” he said.
ATI 2025, which is welcoming more than 1 300 exhibitors and 1 200 buyers, will bring attention to the city’s progress in major projects, added Zondi.
“We are also meeting at exciting times when tourism, our arrivals in the country and the region, is on the increase – and when we in KZN are on the cusp of welcoming new tourism developments, and prioritising and supporting various catalytic projects. The province is now in an age of increased opportunities and we are positioning tourism, one of the region’s greatest assets, as a strategic pillar of economic recovery and regional development,” he said.
New urban tourism destination
Significant progress has also been made in the development of Westown – a sprawling, R15 billion (€730 million) mixed-use development that represents one of the largest infrastructure investments in Durban since the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The first phase of the development – the Westown Square shopping centre – was launched in March 2025, marking the establishment of the city’s newest shopping, dining and lifestyle destination.
“In its first few weeks of trading, it’s already become a big community hub, and one of the destination offerings of KZN as an urban tourism, events and leisure hub,” said Cara Reilly, Place Marketing and Communication Lead for the precinct’s developer, Fundamentum Property Group.
Cyril Xaba, Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, highlighted last year’s reopening of the Hilton Hotel on the doorstep of Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre as a major boost for the city’s MICE sector. He said Southern Sun’s commitment to investing R1 billion (€48.7 million) in its beachfront properties, including the Elangeni & Maharani, as well as revitalising the area’s dilapidated attractions, is of major significance.
