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The Beach Front in Durban has always been one of South Africa’s most popular tourist destinations in the summertime. So come 2010, everyone’s favorite holiday spot will be taken over by the vast amounts of tourists from around the world for the 19th FIFA soccer World Cup. Now, with the stadium being around 90 percent completed, we can see some well needed attention being paid to the Beach Front which has been, for many years, under development.

uShaka Marine World, established in the earlier years of this development, is one of the major tourist attractions that will bring money to our local economy during the six weeks of the World Cup. It combines the old Durban Aquarium from North Beach with the quaint Water World where the Suncoast Casino is currently located. However, if a tourist were to walk along the promenade by the beach, they would find many different products with a Durban flavor sold by informal traders who make their living off these tourists.

At uShaka, as it is known by the citizens of Durban, there is a formal impersonator of those informal traders that works its way around uShaka's perimeter. Not only does it house the commercial restaurants and take-aways popular in South Africa but fashion stores as well. There was everything from the American Fudge Factory to Game Zone and even a tattoo parlor known as Eagles. Basically, it sees to every need of a tourist, especially by international standards. There is even a bus service that runs along all the major tourist locations in the city, which eventually lands up at uShaka Marine World.

When it comes to food, the Beach front is known for its popular fried sweet corn and masala pineapple snacks which are sold in the 'flea market' and spotted along the promenade. Needless to say, uShaka could very well bring about a low business for these traders, but among the mass of citizens, there is a mixture of reactions to this. Most saying that this could not happen because of the amount of people expected during the World Cup. Unfortunately, the high rent of uShaka prevents them from selling inside the facilities as well as a no vendor law on top of that.
The beaded key rings and artworks sold around the Beach also have a competitor in uShaka. There is a shop selling most of the same items inside and a handful of curio shops which sell a variety of South African goods. Sadly, the cheerfulness of the informal traders is not really present in uShaka itself.

An interesting addition to the restaurants in uShaka is called Moyo. This place is a hybrid restaurant that incorporates traditional South African food and art, where you can eat venison samoosas or samp and beans and buy some contemporary home grown artwork. Because of the restrictions on vendors and informal traders, they have been completely left out of an opportunity that could rocket them to success during 2010. These people are the life and soul of the beach front who bring character to our city.