CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy says, “We are pleased with the industry’s forecasts and outlook for the festive season, and remain cautiously optimistic about year on year growth over this period. It’s been a challenging year for many in the tourism industry; determined particularly by the socio-political and economic climate, not to mention some of the environmental issues we have had to face. And still – tourism has endured and promises a good holiday season.”
The Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FEDHASA) Cape members have positively stated that the Western Cape will experience year on year growth this festive season when compared to the December period last year.
Their members have noted that the domestic market is continuing to grow and that the Western Cape remains a prime location for foreign visitors with countries like Holland, Germany and the UK dominating reservations.
FEDHASA Cape’s Chairman, Rob Kucera noted, “After a busy winter season the Western Cape is well prepared and geared up for the influx of local and international tourists for this summer season. The Western Cape is really seen as a family friendly destination due to the abundance of locations and activities on offer, so we continue to see the bulk of our bookings stemming from family vacations to the province.”
When asked to comment on the busiest periods over the season, John van Rooyen, Operations Director for Tsogo Sun had this to say, “The booking pattern this year has remained the same as the past few years, whereby for the mid-December period there is still space but the demand over Christmas and New Year spikes. The number of visitors is similar to the same period last year, but we did find that there seems to be an “upgrade” requirement to better hotels from our domestic market.”
Cape Town’s busiest tourist attraction, the V&A Waterfront, has reported a 7 to 8% growth in visitor numbers in comparison to the same time period during previous years. Emma King, PR and Communications Manager for the V&A Waterfront says, “The V&A Waterfront has seen a steady growth in visitors over the past few weeks, and it continues to get busier as we head into the week of Christmas and New Year. We see our visitor numbers spike to about 100 000 a day over this period (going up to close on 200 000 per day on days like New Year’s Eve) – about 19% of those are from SA (outside of Cape Town), about 26% international, with the remaining 55% being locals.”
These statistics are consistent with information gathered in a survey conducted by Cape Town Tourism during November 2014, where 90% of respondents (from its membership base) indicated that they were expecting a festive season that is the same as if not busier than last year’s.
Says the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Councillor Garreth Bloor: “The City of Cape Town remains optimistic about the upcoming peak season for several reasons which include marketing Cape Town as a premier destination but more importantly because of the economic opportunities the influx of tourists promise for our locals. Moreover, this period gives locals the chance to experience Cape Town’s generous touristic offering and we continue to encourage this trend. ”
Actual festive season performance figures will be available and released at the end of January 2015.
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