THE festive season could throw the hospitality industry a lifeline as hotels and other holiday accommodation are expected to be 50% to 60% full.
This is according to the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa), that expects this occupancy rate from late December through to January.
“We've seen some great pickup in late November, and that pickup continued in early December,” said Fedhasa Western Cape chair Jeremy Clayton. “There was a slight hesitancy to book in the last two or three days leading up to the president’s announcement on Thursday, but again, today we continue to see the pickup in the Cape market, especially the domestic bookers coming back to the Cape.”
Hotel chain Radisson’s Africa regional director, William McIntyre, said their venues had experienced an increase in bookings and occupancy levels for the upcoming festive season, a definite spike compared to the last few months.
“We’ve noticed that the length of stay is shorter in comparison to the booking length in previous years,” McIntyre said. “However, we have seen a marked increase in family bookings and have therefore tailored our offerings to suit family holidays.”
The Marriott Hotel group also reported an increase in bookings. “We are seeing some positive movement amongst business and leisure travellers,” said Area Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa, Volker Heiden. “We can clearly see that business travel is picking up somewhat but as expected this time of year, most demand is coming from domestic leisure business.
Heiden said: “Although we expect limited demand from international travellers, we expect domestic travel to be very strong over the school holidays with families looking to take road trips to neighbouring provinces or staycations in their own cities.”
In a preliminary statistical release published on November 23, Stats SA reported that in September, South Africa’s accommodation industry suffered a 71,8% decrease in total income, with an 81.3% drop over the entire third quarter and total income nationally just clearing R1.1 billion, compared to R6.2bn in 2019. This was the result of a 65.3% decrease in the number of stay unit nights sold. The biggest losers for that month were hotels that suffered a 78.6% loss, followed by guest houses and farms that saw a 73,5% decrease.
An increase in bookings across the sector in the Western Cape for the December period has happened at the same time the province faces an increase in Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations, prompting calls for tourists to maintain precautions.
In his weekly digital press conference on Thursday, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said holidaymakers could proceed with their plans even into Covid-19 hotspots, keeping in mind the responsibilities to prevent the further spread of the virus. “It is as I said before: if you are travelling to a hotspot area, you can find out these details and check out our dashboard, you can still carry on with your holiday plans but you must apply what we’ve been saying,” Winde said.
“You’ve got to apply common sense. You’ve got to make sure you are not going to be part of gatherings that are going to become spreaders. You are going to be having a holiday with a difference. You must be responsible as a citizen and play your part.”
Cape Town Tourism CE Enver Duminy reflected on the damage done to the overall tourism industry and echoed the calls for safety. “We have a very long road ahead of us,” he said.
“As an industry, we need international tourists to come back and we need locals to travel, but neither will happen at a fast enough rate if we have to go back into some form of lockdown because of a high infection rate.
“This will be devastating to those individuals and businesses who rely on tourism as an economic lifeline. We strongly urge our members, industry businesses, our citizens and our visitors to play their part to limit the spread of this virus.”
Holidaymakers such as Gauteng resident Kevin McLennan plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a seven-day stay in Cape Town, despite concerns about the increase in Covid-19 cases.
“I’m split between being confident about my trip because I’m going purely for relaxation and to possibly see one or two people in open settings that won’t put anyone at risk,” McLennan said. “I’m definitely very hyper aware of the measurements I need to take to protect myself and those around me, so I won’t be going to events, many shopping centres or any gatherings.”
McLennan added: “I do feel slightly alarmed knowing that the cases are rising and possibly even a little guilty that I’m continuing my trip even though this is the case.”
