Airports Company South Africa | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourist attractions in Cape Town reported an increase in visitors during December, but Cape Town International airport bucked the trend, announcing a reduction in passenger arrivals in December 2012 relative to December 2011.

Cape Town International saw a 10% decline in passenger arrivals, which the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has blamed on SAA cutting its London – Cape Town route. The Chamber has been known to make incorrect statements relating to the tourism industry in the past, especially in the term of its previous President Michael Bagraim, not appearing to have a good grasp on the Cape tourism industry. We have not had any feedback from tourists complaining about not being able to get to Cape Town, given that BA and Virgin fly direct from London to Cape Town, and a number of other direct flight options as well as those via Johannesburg are available to tourists at varying prices. A report by the Cape Times quotes Airports Company South Africa Deirdre Davids as saying that passenger arrivals increased by 7% in December 2012, and that international arrivals increased by 17%, but it does not state which period the increases are relative to.

Quick to jump on the tourism bandwagon, but not always knowledgeable about the industry he is meant to represent on the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee, is Councillor Grant Pascoe, who issued a media release in December about the City’s November tourism performance, adding up the visitor numbers for the Big Six City tourist attractions, and coming up with a figure of ‘over 2 million people’, without taking duplication of attraction visits into account! The media release comes from the City of Cape Town’s ‘Integrated Strategic Communication and Branding Department’, but does not have an author, its poor writing comparing with the poor media releases generated by Cape Town Tourism!

The media release reported the following visitor numbers in November 2012:

* V&A Waterfront: ‘over’ 1,8 million

* Table Mountain (Cableway, one assumes that this is the measured entity, but it is not specified by Pascoe): ‘just over’ 90000

* Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens: 70745

* Cape Point: 37600

* Robben Island: 31870

* Groot Constantia: ‘over‘ 20000

The Cableway reported that it had achieved its best ever ticket sales of 119000 in December 2012 (it ran a price reduction promotion for locals to thank them for voting Table Mountain as a New7Wonders of Nature at the beginning of December!), and on Boxing Day 7500 visitors went up the mountain, its best day of the month. Similarly Kirstenbosch increased its numbers, at 82000. Robben Island ticket sales have been on a downward trend since 2010. The V&A Waterfront claimed to have received 3 million ‘visitors’ in December 2012, reported Business Day, an increase of 10% on December 2011, claimed the V&A Waterfront CEO David Green. This implies a 67% increase relative to November 2012! One wonders how the Waterfront measures the ‘visitor numbers’, and what percentage of these are in fact Capetonians shopping there, and going to the movies or eating out, as we have written before. The V&A used to have a counter on the road at its entrance, but it is not visible any more. This could make the V&A figures misleading as far as its tourism visitorship is concerned!

If Cape Town International is reporting a 10 % decline for December, and the local tourist attractions reported an increase in visitor numbers, it means that the Cape had more local (Western Cape) visitors to Cape Town, and South Africans who drove instead of flying to Cape Town, possibly due to excessive airline prices, even for domestic flights, and car rental costs.

Once again Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold referred to Seasonality, paying lip service to fixing the problem, as she does year after year: ‘We need to work really hard and continue the effort to promote Cape Town as a year-round destination and encourage visitors to travel out of the peak season so we can extent (sic) our season all year round‘, reported EWN! Interesting is that Cape Town Tourism admitted that Cape Town could not cope with the tourism numbers over the Festive Season, with rental cars sold out, limited parking, and increased traffic, said its PR and Communications Manager Skye Grove, according to a report in the Cape Argus, a predictable problem, but one which Cape Town Tourism did nothing about, all its top management having been on holiday over this period!

The publicity surrounding the December tourism performance is interesting, as the month has a summer seasonality component, as we are seeing for each of the summer months, with the exception of February. So, for example December had two very poor weeks in the first half, and Cape Town only filled up just after Christmas, therefore containing only a small Festive Season tourism component. Our Whale Cottage Camps Bay occupancy figures show that the December 2012 occupancy of 61% fell from the 70% in December 2011, and is still far below the record occupancy of over 84 % and higher in 2009, 2008, and 2007! Pascoe’s claim that ‘the City’s tourism industry has been enjoying a steady annual increase in visitor numbers’ is misleading and factually incorrect!

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

In a surprise development, with no advance warning, flights from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London have been cancelled since this afternoon due to the ash cloud, caused by the eruption of the Puyehue volcano in Chile, having reached the Cape. A strong cold front, driven by strong west winds ahead of a bad weather system, is heading to the Cape.

Most impressive is the media release sent by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, at 21h14 this evening! This is what Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of the company, wrote:

“Western Cape tourism and travel industry monitors impacts of ash cloud closely

Tourism stakeholders, led by the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism will visit the Cape Town International Airport tomorrow to assess the impact of an ash cloud over Cape Town airspace. The group will also talk to affected passengers to find it if they are comfortable and if their needs are being met.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the ash cloud originated from a volcano in Chile. Flights in and out of Cape Town International, Port Elizabeth and East London airports were cancelled.

Alan Winde, Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC, says that both South African Airways and British Airways delayed some of their flights today: “I want to assure travellers that all tourism and travel industry role-players are attending to the situation and putting measures in place that will minimise the impact on travellers and the Western Cape tourism industry and we are monitoring the situation closely.”

Calvyn Gilfellan, Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO, echoes these sentiments: “Airports Company South Africa and the Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company are monitoring the situation very closely and will update travellers as and when new information becomes available. All indications are that the cloud will move past very swiftly and air traffic will return to normality.”

Airports Company South Africa has advised all passengers travelling within the next few days to contact their airlines in order to confirm their flight details”.

POSTSCRIPT 19/6: The flight ban over the Cape, including Cape Town, has been lifted. Some flights have been delayed, due to the flight cancellations since yesterday afternoon.

POSTSCRIPT 20/6: The following media release was sent by Cape Town Routes Unlimited today:

Flights in and out of Cape Town International Airport [CTIA] returned to schedule today as the ash cloud created by a recent volcanic eruption in Chile passed over. The ash cloud forced several operators to either cancel or delay flights over the weekend. Western Cape Tourism Minister, Alan Winde, was informed of the possible disruption to flight schedules in the southern hemisphere two weeks ago: “Shortly after the Puyehue volcano erupted, the General Manager of the CTIA informed me that the ash cloud may affect flights in and out of Cape Town. It passed south of us the first time around, circled the globe, and entered our airspace the second time around after being pushed north by the cold front.” The General Manager of CTIA, Deon Cloete, said: “In total, around 13 departing and 12 arriving flights were affected. We immediately deployed additional ground staff to assist passengers with information and to provide support to the airlines. We also increased staff at the security check point in order to make sure people pass through quickly once the flights were back up and running. Through our Airport Management Centre’s at the three main international airports, we ensured that all parties took decisions in a collaborative manner and were able to quickly respond as and when required.” The airlines made every effort to alert passengers about cancelled or delayed flights, and arranged hotel accommodation for affected passengers where necessary. Currently there are no active warnings relating to the ash cloud, however the relevant authorities are monitoring the situation closely in the event of any alerts. Minister Winde said: “Our first priority is for the safety of travellers. Because it passed so quickly, and was excellently handled by the staff at the CTIA, the ash cloud will have a minimal impact on our tourism economy. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Deon Cloete and all his ground staff for working around the clock this weekend to make sure that affected passengers were accommodated and comfortable – the airport operates as well during incidents as it does during major events. Operations at the airport have returned to normal and we look forward to welcoming travellers and tourists to the Western Cape.”

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