Durban – Wake up and smell the roses
Durbanites are lazy. And if the city is to become a world-class cultural and sporting mecca, residents have to come to the party – literally.
Given the poor turnout at the recent South Africa versus Australia cricket Test and the slow rate at which tickets have been selling for Monday’s Robbie Williams concert, local event organisers are wondering if it will be worth the city’s while to spend millions of rands on marketing Durban as a tourist playground.
Durban is the only venue in the world not to have sold out tickets for the Williams tour – by mid-week, about 800 were still left for the concert at Absa stadium.
Tickets for the Cape Town and Pretoria legs of the tour were sold out within five hours of going on offer, breaking all records. With the exception of Durban, tickets in every country on his current world tour were sold out in hours, earning the star a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
‘Durbanites leave everything, like buying tickets, to the last minute’
So big is Williams, that six German couples who could not buy tickets for his concert in their own country are flying to Durban to see him perform.
International recording giants Snoop Dogg, Sean Paul, Mario and Rihanna are also due to perform at Absa Stadium on April 29.
Why are Durbanites so slack?
At the recent Test against Australia, about 30 000 people attended over five days – only 2 000 of them on the final day. The empty stands drew remarks from the commentators.
Understanding the Durbanite’s mindset is a challenge, says Illa Thompson, an independent publicist based in Durban.
‘People in Durban are spoilt for choice when it comes to entertainment’
“If could explain how locals thought, I would be a wealthy person because I would be able to capitalise on that. From my experience in organising and publicising events, I have found that Durbanites leave everything, like buying tickets, to the last minute.
“It seems we also have a very sophisticated audience. I have found that poetry and film festivals are sold out, but certain international concerts and sporting events have a poor turnout. I honestly don’t know why,” she said.
Thompson said, however, that the city had the ability to surprise with huge turnouts to events “every now and then”.
She called on the city leadership, tourism authorities and the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism to conduct research into why residents chose not to attend events hosted in Durban.
“If we can come up with the answers to this, then we can all service tourism better,” she said. Thompson also pointed out that with Easter “just around the corner”, the city had done very little to promote itself as the place to be.
Tanya van Agthoven, a publicist for Big Concerts, the organisers of the Williams concert, said although she was passionate about promoting events in Durban, it proved very frustrating.
“But I also believe that if we harp on about the negatives, like the apathy of Durbanites, then it becomes a mindset. The people of this city are responsible for making Durban the orphan of the three big cities. Unlike people in the other two cities – Johannesburg and Cape Town – people in Durban are lazy when it comes to things like buying tickets for major events.
“Just one drop of water outside and they say stay away because ‘it’s raining’. They won’t even pick up the phone to call Computicket to book tickets. Cape Town is also very laid back, but when it comes to the cultural side, they get up and do it,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo is confident, however, that making Durban into a sporting and tourism destination will make locals take pride in supporting the events the city stages.
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