Brandon van der mescht

The V&A Waterfront attracted 3 million visitors in December.

BRONWYNNE JOOSTE

Metro Writer

CAPE Town’s tourism industry is reporting a strong December season, with the city gearing up for its traditional peak months in January and February.

The city says it may set specific numerical targets in its aim to get people to Cape Town.

Cape Town Tourism said some of the statistics showed that all rental cars in the city were booked out between December 20 and 31.

Popular attractions also did well, with the V&A Waterfront recording 3 million visitors in December, while Table Mountain had 100 000 visitors over the past month.

The Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa’s (Fedhasa) Cape branch said hotels noted an increase in visitors from countries such as Brazil, India and the UK.

Skye Grove, Cape Town Tourism communications manager, said the industry had fared better than predicted in the past month.

“Tourism numbers seem to be improving beyond what was initially anticipated and there is every indication that we have seen the start of a very positive peak season.”

Grove said although all statistics were not yet available, Cape Town International had already noted a 14 percent increase in international arrivals when compared with November 2010.

There was also a 3.6 percent increase in domestic arrivals.

“January and February are traditionally peak months for international arrivals and a steady year-on-year increase in international tourists is expected when compared to last year.”

Most of the visitors to popular attractions were from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

Another feature of the season was budget travel.

Grove added that it was important that establishments priced themselves for their markets.

“On the back of one of the worst winters in a decade, Cape Town’s tourism industry is by no means out of the woods, yet the industry’s positive feedback on December is very encouraging.

“We have had some good weather, which plays an important role in dispersing visitors across the Peninsula and greater metropole as they seek beaches and nature reserves,” said Grove.

It was also “encouraging” that many of the biggest tourist attractions had a “noteworthy number of Capetonians”.

“It is essential that our own citizens enjoy their city as much as visitors do.”

She said restaurants, shops and hotels reported a “positive holiday upswing”.

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, hotels along the Atlantic seaboard and in the city centre were fully booked.

Fedhasa Cape agreed, adding that hotels at the Waterfront also had good occupancies.

Jeff Rosenberg, chairperson of the branch’s hotel sector, said hotels had occupancy levels of between 60 and 80 percent.

“There was a welcome arrival of domestic leisure guests.

“And it was very encouraging to receive a very noticeable increase in the number of foreign visitors to the city from, Brazil, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Spain, India, Portugal, Sweden and Italy.

“It appears that while SA still remains a long-haul destination, the current exchange rate still encourages foreign visitors to spend the Christmas and new year season in South Africa,” said Rosenberg.

Dirk Elzinga, Fedhasa Cape chairman, said although there were more guests, there was not an immediate spike in occupancy.

This was because of the increase in capacity after the 2010 World Cup.

He said it was still early to record accurate occupancy levels over the festive season.

The city’s tourism, events and marketing mayoral committee member, Grant Pascoe,

said there had been a “buoyancy” in the industry in the past month.

The sector would now gear up for the peak months expected ahead.

“The season also started earlier than usual.

“It’s important to ensure that visitors have a pleasant experience.”

Pascoe said the city was considering putting targets in place. He pointed to New York, which had pushed towards welcoming 50 million visitors.

“Tourism is a hugely important industry for our economy.”

bronwynne.jooste@inl.co.za