Accommodation along South Africas Wild Coast is recovering from several past crime incidents, predicting improved tourism numbers over the festive season, while the opening of new flagship lodges is raising awareness of the region among international travellers.
Tourism to the rugged, 250km stretch of coastline running from East London in the south to the border with KwaZulu-Natal in the north was affected by a spate of violent crime, including robberies and kidnappings, in 2024.
Last year we had a lot of negative press but we have seen an upturn in positivity for the end of the year. I do feel things are a lot better now that the crime syndicates involved in some of these incidents have been dealt with, said Richard Warren-Smith , Owner-Manager of the Morgan Bay Hotel situated 80km north of East London.
