Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

The festive season saw fewer holiday makers in the Cape, they stayed for a shorter period, and they spent less during their stay, say the tourism authorities, reports Fin24.   According to the Cape Argus, international tourism numbers dropped by 6 %, compared to 2008, due to the recession and due to the stronger Rand, offering lesser value for money.

According to Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfillan the Garden Route was quieter, speculating that this was due to the water shortage in the area.   The bookings however were slow compared to previous years, long before the water crisis became a reality.   The Overberg (especially Hermanus) and the Cape Town city centre were quieter, while the Boland reported similar tourism numbers as last year.   The West Coast had improved visitor numbers, being a more affordable destination.

Tourists were looking for affordability, says Cape Town Tourism, and that is why 5-star hotels struggled financially as guests traded down to lower star accommodation or even to self-catering accommodation.   Fedhasa Cape reports that occupancy in 5 star hotels reduced by 10 - 20 % compared to last year, over the festive period, while 3 and 4 star hotels “did better”.

The lower number of visitors from Johannesburg was evident in Cape Town and especially Plettenberg Bay.  It is said that the Johannesburgers stayed home this festive season, to save money in order to renovate their homes, which they want to rent out for the FIFA World Cup, at which time they want to leave the country.  Even the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company had mainly Capetonians as visitors.

At Whale Cottage Camps Bay bookings are starting to look good from 28 January onwards, the start of the weekend on which the J & B Met takes place, and almost all of February is booked out already.  The Argus Cycle Tour in March is also good for business.

Upmarket restaurants have been reported to have also felt the pinch over the festive season, and many did not manage to fill their expensive tables for New Year’s eve, with prices as high as R 2 000 per person.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

“Cape Town tourism plummets” was the dramatic headline of EyeWitnessNews yesterday, reflecting the decline in tourism this season so far, particularly in the Western Cape interior.

The report quotes Cape Town Routes Unlimited, which it mistakenly refers to as “Cape Town’s official tourism marketing body”, as admitting that “the Mother City is experiencing a dismal year, with the number of visitors significantly lower than in previous years.”   According to the report, Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan has visited Western Cape tourism districts, and received feedback of varying tourism numbers, especially along the Garden Route.

The Whale Cottage Portfolio can also confirm this scenario, with November being a poor month in Franschhoek (32 % occupancy - normally this month is close to fully booked), in Hermanus (66 % occupancy - usually close to fully booked), and in Plettenberg Bay (28 %).   Only Whale Cottage Camps Bay in Cape Town held its own with an occupancy in November of 88%, yet down from 96 % last year.

The festive season period is almost fully booked at the Whale Cottages in Camps Bay and in Plettenberg Bay, the cricket match in Cape Town in early January being a big boost for Camps Bay bookings.   Hermanus is seeing the poorest bookings over the festive season, despite the area having a new Destination Marketing Organisation, but which is just not bringing in the bookings.

South African Tourism’s Global Manager: Product, Hanneli Slabber, states in her Christmas message that this “..has been one of the industry’s toughest years”.  She encourages emphasis on Service Excellence, in that it is the little touches that makes visitors return to a destination and a tourism product.  “What our visitors want in 2010 is something their money can’t buy.  It’s called Service Excellence - and it comes from being professional at what you do, competent in how you do it, and treating people with genuine warmth and respect when you do it” she writes.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

South Africa is gaining in popularity as a tourist destination, as the 2010 World Cup draws near, says a survey conducted amongst international Visa credit cardholders, reports South African Tourism Update.

Conducted amongst 5 500 travellers from eleven countries, the study found that 33 % of these travellers intend to travel to South Africa in future, and just less than half of these intend to travel to the country for the World Cup.   The World Cup interest is largest from Brazil (just under half the respondents), followed by China, South Korea, Mexico, Russia and the USA.

The study shows that those travellers wanting to come to South Africa, will want to see other parts of the country, including a game park, and a beach holiday in the Cape or on the Garden Route (although the World Cup will be hosted in the South African winter!).   Cape Town is the most popular South African city they would like to visit while they are in the country.   However, while they are on the African continent, the travellers would also like to visit another African county, and the most popular destinations are Kenya, Angola, Mocambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Reasons for not coming to the country include a lack of interest in soccer and the World Cup, fearing it being too expensive, and to not be safe.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

MATCH is not concerned about a shortage of beds in Cape Town during the 2010 World Cup, says its accommodation manager Vivienne Bervoets, according to a report in the Cape Argus yesterday.

MATCH, the FIFA accommodation agency,  has already signed up 7 020 beds in Cape Town, and has created a “Matchville” in the Garden Route.   Ms Bervoets is quoted as saying that there is no “need to panic”, and that there is sufficient accommodation “provided the room inventory is properly utilised and maximised”.   “Our target was 55 000 rooms, of which we have 40 000 contracted and a number of initiatives in the pipeline.  However, this does not include contracting private homes, (a claim) recently reported in the media.”

Many guest house and smaller hotel owners are selling their rooms directly to soccer fans, and are not utilising MATCH, due to the stringent booking guidelines imposed by MATCH on its contracted accommodation suppliers, calling the shots as to the cancellation policy, deposit and final payments, and the commission of 30 % it takes on top of the rate charged by the establishments.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Based on accommodation bookings, a most devastatingly poor September lies ahead for the first three weeks of the month.  Tourism players can be grateful that the 24 September public holiday falls on a Thursday, which can lead to locals making a four-day long weekend of it.

Rarely has a September looked so poorly booked ahead in Camps Bay, and Franschhoek.  The Garden Route remains severely depressed.   Hermanus looks a little better, especially with the Whale Festival over the long weekend having attracted good bookings ahead.  But the weekends earlier in September are not yet heavily booked.  

August, by contrast, was well booked ahead, and the Italian market was a most welcome buffer against the credit crunch.  Whale Cottage Camps Bay ended off the month with an occupancy of 60 %, and 50 % for Whale Cottage Hermanus.

FEDHASA Cape too has admitted that Western Cape accommodation has “taken a battering” this winter, reports Tourism Update Online.   “The five-star market has taken the biggest battering, but low-end accommodation seem to have fared better” said the hotel association’s Rey Franco.   He says that predictions for bookings ahead vary from good, to same as, and bad compared to a year ago.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Of the towns on the Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay appears to be worst hit, with many shops standing empty.   Business has been very slow and few tourists are visiting the beautiful seaside town, despite whale and dolphin sightings. 

Restaurants have been coming to the party, some having closed for longer over the winter break, and most offering exceptional special offers.   So, for example, Emily Moon is offering a two-course “winter warmer menu” for R 100, and 3-courses at R 120.   Nguni offers a “Bring back the “Good Old Times” (plus a little inflation and a day or 2 later!!) on Friday evening, and charges R 50 per head.   Specials have included steak, eat-as-much-pastsa-as-you-can, and sole.   Miguels offers two courses for R 85.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, announced the establishment of the Garden Route National Park, and its proclamation by Government Gazette, last week reports Travelwires.

The 121 000 hectare park stretches across the Western and the Eastern Cape, and involves the municipalities of George, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Koukamma.   The Garden Route is well-known for its indigenous forests, its fynbos, and its Knysna and Wilderness estuaries.  It will incorporate the existing Tsitsikamma and Wilderness National Parks.

The proclamation could have a beneficial effect on tourism, which is much needed for the Garden Route, which is strongly feeling the effect of the economic downturn.

George has been selected by the Western Cape government as the town within the Eden district municipality on the Garden Route that will host the 2010 World Cup public viewing, reports The Herald.

The Pacaltsdorp stadium in George won the bid against those in Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay.    More than 10 000 soccer fans are expected at the stadium each day during the World Cup next year.

George has also complied with Fifa’s requirements for hosting a base camp, at its Outeniqua Park stadium.

The drop in the price of petrol by R 1,35 per litre at midnight is most welcome for the tourism industry, bringing the new price of petrol at the coast to R 5,76 per litre, the same price as in March 2007!   The decrease in the petrol price is larger than was estimated last week.

The price of diesel has dropped by R 1,68 per litre, to R 6, 39 per litre.

The drop in the price of petrol and diesel will have a positive effect on tourism, and should make itself felt in an increase in tourism to the Garden Route and country towns and villages, as well as in a decrease in food prices, which should reduce the rate of inflation, which should bring about a cut in the interest rate in February.   This is welcome news for cash-strapped South Africans, who probably over-extended themselves over the festive season.

Bookings ahead for the accommodation industry look very promising, as the world appears to have gotten used to the credit crunch, and is rewarding itself with holidays as a result of what it has endured this year.

February is always a heavily booked month, and Whale Cottage Camps Bay is already 75 % booked ahead, a very different picture to that experienced for November, when only half the accommodation was booked prior to the start of the month and the rest was booked last minute during the month. 

It would appear that the remainder of the summer season will be a booming one.   Bookings from the UK market are as strong as in seasons before, and the 2 % cut in the UK VAT rate, and interest rate cuts, coupled with the favourable exchange rate, are stimulating confidence, and therefore tourism bookings.   The UK and Europe are also experiencing a very cold and early winter.

The petrol price decrease, and the anticipated cut in the interest rate this week, is encouraging South Africans to travel locally this festive season.  With the cost of a tank of petrol under R 400, bookings for the Garden Route and country towns and villages outside of Cape Town have seen a strong and very welcome increase.