THE eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association has cautiously welcomed the festive season update by Durban Mayor Cyril Xaba.

Xaba assured residents and tourists on Thursday that the city was ready to play host. is in top form this festive season.

Reflecting on last weekend figures, Xaba said there were 113 000 with 68 000 having stayed overnight.

“The direct spend was R463 million with over 2 000 direct employment opportunities created. The contribution to the GDP was R1.145 billion. These figures demonstrate that Durban remains the premier holiday destination.

“Our hotel occupancy rate was 72%, with the market demand concentrating in the northern areas and the beachfront,” he said.

Xaba said that this weekend was expected to be another bumper weekend, with the rugby match between the Hollywoodbets Sharks and the Vodacom Bulls at the Hollywoodbets Kings Park Rugby Stadium.

“As we are gearing up for Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, we are confident that visitors will continue to arrive in droves to enjoy various tourism products the city has to offer. We can confirm that we are on the right path to achieve 75% hotel occupancy rate and 1.3 million visitors, a direct spend of R2.5 billion, and a GDP contribution of R6.3 billion,” he said.

Xaba said that several multidisciplinary law enforcement operations had been conducted, which resulted in 112 arrests for drunk driving and over 700 charges ranging from unroadworthy vehicles and other traffic offences.

Speaking about the status of the beaches, the Mayor said that out of 23 bathing beaches, 21 were open and safe for swimming.

Ish Prahladh of the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association said there was an improvement.

“With the new mayor on board, there is definitely an improvement in the city. You can see the improvement.

“The only issue is that it is going to take a while for all the sewer issues to get rectified, but there is definitely a change,” he said.