New tourism plan for iSimangaliso Wetland Park, accommodation costs may rise

TOURISTS looking to visit the world heritage site, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, could soon pay more for their stay as the accommodation facilities are set to be managed by commercial partners.

- THAMI MAGUBANE

The management of iSimangaliso is currently looking at public-private partnerships for those who can run the ecotourism facilities. The facilities had previously been managed by KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife. In a statement, Ezemvelo said they will now only manage the conservation efforts. The move has been welcomed by tourism organisations, who said they have been calling for KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife to privatise the hospitality facilities.

Ezemvelo spokesperson Musa Mntambo said the management of the ecotourism facilities at the site resulted from the agreement between the two parties. He said that while by law KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife was the only authority in the province in charge of managing conservation in and out of game reserves, after iSimangaliso became a World Heritage Site, the authority fell under the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment .

"We had continued to manage the ecotourism site in iSimangaliso as we were already managing other sites in the province. The agreement was that when they finally had the capacity to manage the ecotourism site, we would hand it back to them."

He said a conversation started recently about the site being handed back to iSimangaliso, stating, "They said they are ready to manage the site and they are looking to commercialise the site by bringing in commercial partners."