Durban's uShaka Marine World launches local campaigns amid rising costs and cashflow issues
Image: uShaka Marine World
uShaka Marine World, one of Durban's most famous attractions, said it is working hard to reconnect with local communities and change the way people see the park.
Opened in 2004 along Durban's beachfront, uShaka was created to be a major tourism hub for the city and the KwaZulu-Natal province. It features an aquarium, water park, restaurants, and various marine-related activities.
"Many think it's just for kids, but there's something here for everyone from snorkelling and scuba diving to restaurants and dangerous creatures.' CEO of uShaka Ndabo Khoza told IOL.
This effort to boost local interest comes as the park faces serious financial challenges. The eThekwini Municipality recently approved a R14 million cash injection to help uShaka stay afloat during the quieter months.
IOL previously reported that, according to the municipality, the cashflow challenges are attributed to the current business model as well as institutional arrangements.
These issues become much more pronounced during the low trading periods of the park, wherein the monthly cash generated is less than the cash required to meet the mandatory expenditure for the corresponding period.
"I think the first one is that the cost of operating a facility like this is quite huge to the extent that if you were to try and pass on all those costs to the visitors, it would then render the place to be extremely expensive for people to come.
"So we try and find a way of cross-subsidizing some of those costs with other secondary revenue initiatives that we've got in place but sometimes that's also still not enough whereby one would then have to be able to get a grant here and there just to balance the books so that we still keep the price of coming to UshaKa Marine and being affordable,"
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Despite the challenges, uShaka remains a key tourism destination for the city of Durban, attracting about 3 million visitors annually, with around 750,000 paying for entry to the main attractions.
Khoza also outlined the financial difficulties faced by the park, noting that rising operational costs, particularly electricity and water for the large aquarium tanks, have put pressure on the budget.
"I'll give you an example, the one year, the electricity increase that we had to deal with year on year, was 8 million in our bill, 8 million per annum now".
"8 million at our price at that time would have meant that we need to bring in almost 28,000 more people into the park, just to be able to pay for that increase, so if you're not, then you must pass it on"
To help close the gap, Khoza said uShaka is ramping up its efforts to attract local visitors, especially during off-peak periods. That includes discounted ticket prices, targeted marketing campaigns, and taking the brand directly to people in township malls and community spaces.
"Everyone knows about Ushaka, but very few people have been there. If you think about it, if you ask a person why they don't go to Ushaka, they will say to you, It's expensive, and then you ask them how much it is. They wouldn't even tell you because they've just concluded that it's expensive.
"So, amongst other things, we also now do this special price at certain times of the year, just to make it possible for the locals who perceive this place to be expensive for them to come and see"
IOL Business
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