Durban - Banana and caramel waffles are flying out of the kitchen on the South Coast and shopping malls across KwaZulu-Natal are pumping, while Durban’s hotels are chock-a-block.
Despite the country’s bleak economic outlook for next year, tourists have flocked to the east coast and trends show this could be a record-breaking Christmas for retailers.
And perhaps the best gift under the tree this year is the prediction of rain on Friday, as farmers spend their festive season looking to the skies for relief from the crippling drought.
Snarled traffic and packed beaches on Wednesday were also an indication that the holiday season was well and truly under way.
At the Ramsgate Waffle House, manager Johan Mostert said sales of their famed caramel and banana waffles were going through the roof, as well as another menu favourite, chicken curry.
“We are pumping,” Mostert said. “We are much busier than last year already. I don’t know exactly how many waffles we are making, but they are flying out of the kitchen every minute from 8am to 5pm.”
Robin Barnsley, an egg producer in the Midlands, said demand for eggs was the highest ever.
“We can’t keep up with the demand. I am shipping out 36 000 dozen eggs off the farm every day. I am standing behind my hens with my hands open,” he laughed.
Barnsley said, however, that the demand had started later this year than last year.
Mark Pearse of the Ballito Mall agreed the rush had only just begun, but said sales would trounce last year’s figures.
“The roads are bumper to bumper, it’s hectic,” he said.
While Pearse said the acid test would be tallying up sales and footfall in the mall at the end of January, it seemed confidence had returned to the North Coast as the authorities had promised there would be no water or electricity cuts, and roadworks on the route into the popular beach town had all been completed.
Mark Ker Fox of Hope Meats, which only sells meat from free-range animals, said buying trends were different from last year’s.
“Last year customers picked up their orders at the end of November, and then we had a steady trickle of business through December. This year it’s been absolutely manic for the past week. The first two weeks of December were very quiet,” he said.
Mike Jackson, who heads Fedhasa (the hospitality association) in the province, said hotels in the Drakensberg were packed. Along the Durban beachfront and in Umhlanga some were full, while others were 90% full.
Jackson said that while there was no increase in international tourists to the region, domestic tourists had flocked in.
“The year has been tough … but it seems people are not foregoing their December holiday,” he said.
Kurt Hoggan, general manager of The Galleria in Amanzimtoti, said the mall was “manic”.
“It’s just a sea of people. I am seeing mainly toys and food in the trolleys.”
Neil Schreuder of Shoprite Checkers said customers were making priorities in the tough economic climate, but were spoiling their children, particularly with hi-tech toys.
Similar scenes were playing out at Gateway, the Shelley Beach Mall and Pietermaritzburg’s Liberty Midlands Mall.
The Mercury