A lot has changed - for the better - in Durban in the six years since the president of one of the world's most influential tourism organizations was last here. "There is a vision and the city is projecting itself into the future ... there is a big improvement," said the impressed Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president and chief executive of the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
"Six years ago, people were very concerned about security, but now it seems things have changed for the better. The city seems to have addressed the real problems."
The council consists of 100 top chief executives in the travel and tourism business: global decision makers in an industry which includes hotels, airlines, tour operating companies, car rentals, cruises and booking systems.
South Africa and the continent is represented on the council by Jabo Mabuza of Tsogo Sun, who is also the chairman of South African Tourism. Baumgarten is in the country to attend this week's UN World Tourism Organisation Summit on Tourism, Sport and Mega-events in Joburg, where he is giving a presentation.
But before then, he flew to Durban, where he was met at the airport by Premier Zweli Mkhize, who presented him with a souvenir Bafana Bafana shirt, and was hosted by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN).
He also met Mike Mabuhukhulu, the MEC for economic development and tourism, as well as local tourism organisations and key players in the industry.

Baumgarten was also on a site visit, checking out the tourism and other facilities that the city has to offer.
Durban is bidding for the council's prestigious 2011 annual global summit, to be attended by heads of state and tourism ministers from around the world, as well as non-council key players and media.
He visited the award-winning Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, boarded a helicopter to fly over the new King Shaka International Airport, Hazelmere Dam, the Valley of Thousand Hills, went to uShaka Marine World, and checked out local hotels. And he was blown away by what he saw at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Baumgarten recalled that 20 years ago governments around the world did not understand the value of tourism.
Now that was changing, partly because of the WTTC, which handled issues of global importance , spending millions of dollars every year to show the impact of travel and tourism on the economy.
"We don't do it because we like to play with numbers, but because it helps when I see the head of a government to highlight the economic impact of tourism," he said.
The biggest issue which council members have to tackle at the moment is the recession, he said, and how they can help governments restart their economies and what role travel and tourism can play.
Governments which spent trillions of dollars on their financial systems now had a tendency to look to where they could raise taxes.
"There is a danger of them using travel and tourism as the golden goose,"he said. "The UK has already come out with plans to raise taxes on long-haul flights. But we are fiercely fighting that. They must rather take it from the bankers: they can afford it."