Recently a family from Cape Town stayed with us at Riversway www.riversway.co.za . They had visited East London roughly ten years ago and lamented about the sorry state of the Cities decline. Sadly a lot of their observations are warranted and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality should take heed of this. East London has never enjoyed any real international Tourism other than some Backpacker visitors often just passing us en route to KZN or the Wild Coast.
Local tourism in the form of beach holidays and sporting event visitors to East London , offers a fast growing segment of tourism for East London.
Hence observations of this nature , and such quoted comments emanating from paying visitors " we don't think well be back here unless we have to " leads one to seriously think about the state of our City.
In this thought process one begins to ponder the effects of this on our local tourism trade and the potential hazards it presents Guest House and resort owners.
Many great beach destinations globally however are in a far greater state of disrepair and cities that offer gateways to these paradise type locations are often nothing short of third world ruins.
So why ,when a local tourist travels to a South African coastal resort city, is it with such high expectations of the Cities Infrastructure?
As resort and guest house owners we should draw parallels to Mauritius , and many other coastal resort tourism hotspots and remind local tourists its our beaches that are the draw card and not the city?
In the absence of a functional local authority to improve the Metropolitan area around East London , let us keep the focus on the natural resources that are our magnificent beaches.
An idea may be to blindfold all local tourists at the City Limit and drive them to Nahoon Beach and walk them up to seafront before removing the blindfold, . Sadly this aside, it is the first impression that lasts.
To our visitors who have managed to keep the blindfold on until you arrive at Nahoon , East Coast Resorts or West coast resort village we salute you and welcome you back to our poorly managed yet naturally beautiful resort City.
Pay us a visit at Riversway Guest House in Nahoon www.riversway.co.za and don't switch on your holiday till you take the blindfold off once you reach our Beautiful Nahoon Beach Welcome.
Local tourism in the form of beach holidays and sporting event visitors to East London , offers a fast growing segment of tourism for East London.
Hence observations of this nature , and such quoted comments emanating from paying visitors " we don't think well be back here unless we have to " leads one to seriously think about the state of our City.
In this thought process one begins to ponder the effects of this on our local tourism trade and the potential hazards it presents Guest House and resort owners.
Many great beach destinations globally however are in a far greater state of disrepair and cities that offer gateways to these paradise type locations are often nothing short of third world ruins.
So why ,when a local tourist travels to a South African coastal resort city, is it with such high expectations of the Cities Infrastructure?
As resort and guest house owners we should draw parallels to Mauritius , and many other coastal resort tourism hotspots and remind local tourists its our beaches that are the draw card and not the city?
In the absence of a functional local authority to improve the Metropolitan area around East London , let us keep the focus on the natural resources that are our magnificent beaches.
An idea may be to blindfold all local tourists at the City Limit and drive them to Nahoon Beach and walk them up to seafront before removing the blindfold, . Sadly this aside, it is the first impression that lasts.
To our visitors who have managed to keep the blindfold on until you arrive at Nahoon , East Coast Resorts or West coast resort village we salute you and welcome you back to our poorly managed yet naturally beautiful resort City.
Pay us a visit at Riversway Guest House in Nahoon www.riversway.co.za and don't switch on your holiday till you take the blindfold off once you reach our Beautiful Nahoon Beach Welcome.
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