“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb
Travel opens the mind and offers insight into other people’s thinking, encouraging greater tolerance and a deeper appreciation of diversity. Travel is also fun, refreshing, exciting – and good for the local economy. The more South Africans travel in their own country, the better it is for society, the country and its growth.
FEDHASA, the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, is encouraging every participant in the South African tourism industry to join forces in boosting local travel by ensuring value for money offerings throughout the festive season.
To mark Tourism Month in September this year, the National Department of Tourism together with SA Tourism launched a domestic tourism campaign aimed at increasing the number of domestic travellers in South Africa. At the launch, National Tourism Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said that an excellent tourist arrivals growth of 10.2 percent in 2012 “had made South Africa an exceptional global destination whose arrivals growth consistently tracked higher than the worldwide average. It has put the destination firmly on track to reach its target of being one of the 20 top destinations in the world by 2020.”
Eddy Khosa, chairman of FEDHASA, says this country has “a world of opportunities in one country” for South Africans to explore and enjoy without ever running out of destinations. From the 2 500km coastline that stretches from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic Ocean western coast, south around the tip of Africa and then north to the border with Mozambique on the Indian Ocean east coast; the 200km long magnificent world heritage site Drakensberg Mountain Range; the beautiful and game-rich bushveld; and the wide open Karroo; to the myriad national parks and private game reserves dotted throughout the country, and many more. “The choice of landscape and scenery is endless, along with new activities to experience and different people to get to know.”
Khosa appeals to every participant in the varied local tourism industry to give South African travellers a taste of the best this country has to offer – at affordable prices.
The busiest spots over the festive season are traditionally on the coast, most notably in Durban and along the North and South Coast, on the Eastern Cape coastline, and the Western Cape, particularly Cape Town. Inland, the world-renowned Kruger National Park tends enjoy high occupancy levels during the summer school holidays, and other pockets of tourism excellence around the country also attract travellers from far and wide.
The Durban Beachfront has seen tremendous investment over the past year, paving the way for better and safer experiences with a greater variety of fun activities, entertainment, and eateries for visitors to choose from. To open early in 2014 is the Durban Beach Club eatery, which is located in one of the beachfront properties that has stood vacant since the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and which will provide “a relaxed and informal daytime experience, while at night it will transform into a more formal elegant dining venue,” says Durban businessman Sadha Naidoo, owner of the venue and chairperson of the board of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.
Mike Jackson, regional chairperson of FEDHASA East Coast, comments that “this is a great start for an evening dinner trade on our beach front. This will inject life back into the beachfront, so well done to Sadha Naidoo.” He also congratulated the city for getting the beachfront restaurants started and added, “…now let’s all work together to install more attractions, entertainment and facilities to make this a world class beach.”
Cape Town’s tourism industry has been growing steadily over the last few years, most notably during the busy festive periods. The first phase of a study commissioned by the City of Cape Town reveals that direct spend on tourism in Cape Town has grown at 5.6 percent per annum between 2009 and 2012. The research, conducted by Grant Thornton, shows that the city’s tourism industry generated R14.6 billion in 2012, up from R12.4 billion in 2009.
According to Michele de Witt, regional chairman of FEDHASA Western Cape, Cape Town’s high season appears to have gained momentum in October 2013, with room night demand in the Cape Town hotel market registering about 10 percentage points higher than the same period last year. “While average room rate has increased by a little more than 10 percent, if we adjust for inflation, average room rate in real terms has increased by less than 5 percent, demonstrating the responsible approach adopted by hotel managers in light of increased demand. Looking ahead to the coming three months, we anticipate both room night demand and average room rate to improve; however, we anticipate that increases in both performance indicators will remain below 10 percent.”
Such is the demand for accommodation in Cape Town in January and February next year, that a travel alert was distributed by a major travel group this week, alerting consumers to low availability as a result of three major events over this period, ie the 20th Annual Investing in Mining Indaba™ (31 Jan to 2 Feb), the annual J&B Met horseracing event (1 Feb) and the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament (1 Feb). According to the notification, these events are already impacting on travel availability.
Glenn Phillips, Tourism Development and Marketing for SANParks, says in general SANParks records above average occupancies at most of its properties during the December school holidays. The Kruger National Park, which offers 1 360 accommodation units and 650 camp sites (making up 64 percent and 45 percent of the total SANParks capacity respectively), is a clear indicator of this trend. He says that occupancies at the most popular parks historically reach over 90 percent during this period and day visitor numbers are the highest of the year. For the 2013 December holiday peak (13 December to 3 January), 78% of the Kruger National Park’s available accommodation and camping inventory had already been booked as at 1 October 2013.
Other SANParks national parks that do well in December include Agulhas, Mountain Zebra, the Kgalagadi, Karoo, Addo, the Garden Route National Park and the West Coast National Park.
“A large proportion of the travellers taking up this accommodation from one end of our country to the other are South Africans – doing just what the tourism industry needs them to do; explore and enjoy every aspect of South Africa, while growing our wealth – and they need to be looked after to the best of the industry’s capabilities,” comments Khosa.
He appeals to the tourism industry to resist charging exorbitant amounts because of the unusually high demand over the December holidays – which leaves a very bad taste in the traveller’s mouth – but to offer them the hospitality, experiences, excellent service and affordable prices that will keep them coming back for more again and again and encourage them to spread the good word of all they enjoyed.