{"id":16051,"date":"2011-01-19T08:32:56","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T06:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16051"},"modified":"2011-01-19T08:32:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-19T06:32:56","slug":"tourism-slumped-over-christmas-holidays-says-cape-town-routes-unlimited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/tourism-slumped-over-christmas-holidays-says-cape-town-routes-unlimited\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism “slumped” over Christmas holidays, says Cape Town Routes Unlimited"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Contrary to the optimistic picture which Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold tried to paint for Cape Town’s\u00a0tourism performance over the festive season, and which we have contested<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, Cape Town Routes Unlimited\u00a0has stated that ‘tourism in greater Cape Town had slumped over the Christmas holidays’,\u00a0after the success of the World Cup last year, according to its CEO Calvyn Gilfellan, as reported in the\u00a0Sunday Argus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Gilfellan blamed the unusually strong and extended gale-force south-easter in Cape Town between Christmas and New Year, and the heavy snowfalls in Europe for the tourism “damper”, but said that business had boomed on the Garden Route.\u00a0\u00a0 The heavy winds kept visitors from most Cape’s beaches and from Table Mountain, Gilfellan said.\u00a0\u00a0 He quoted arrival statistics,\u00a0having dropped by more than 3000 international arrivals, on last year’s 77 000 arrivals between December and January, and a decrease by an astounding 16312 domestic arrivals at Cape Town International airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Robben Island ferry operation was not affected by the wind, and its 41000 visitors in December was up on last December’s figures, but the ferry did not operate for a week a year ago.\u00a0 Cape Point saw a decrease in visitor numbers of 9 % and Boulder’s Beach of 14 %.\u00a0\u00a0 The Table Mountain Cableway had its lowest visitor numbers in ten years in December.\u00a0 FEDHASA Cape Restaurant sector chairman\u00a0Rey Franco reported “a drop in overall revenue in December”.\u00a0\u00a0The impending closure of Jardine at the end of February is blamed on economic factors in the Argus <\/strong>report, in an interview it did with co-owner Wilhelm Kuhn: “Jardine … had not been impervious to the recession, and the World Cup had not brought as big a business boom as expected.”<\/p>\n

Cape Town Tourism, by contrast, reported that Cape Town’s tourist season\u00a0over the festive period had been\u00a0“better than average”, the “average” undefined, and had experienced an “unexpected increase” in hotel occupancies,\u00a0contradicting the information supplied by Cape Town Routes Unlimited.\u00a0\u00a0 In a media release dated 22 December, the\u00a0Cape Town tourism marketing\u00a0body\u00a0stated that the city would not experience a “bumper season”. \u00a0Mrs Helmbold was\u00a0quoted ten days later as saying that the festive season was “better than average”, at a time when the festive period had not yet ended, and this appeared to be a thumb-suck not validated by any tourism statistics, given that Mrs Helmbold herself was on holiday over the festive period!\u00a0 She did however concur with Gilfellan in stating in the release that the effect of the World Cup was not yet visible in an upsurge in\u00a0tourism.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contrary to the optimistic picture which Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold tried to paint for Cape Town’s\u00a0tourism performance over the festive season, and which we have contested, Cape Town Routes Unlimited\u00a0has stated that ‘tourism in greater Cape Town had slumped over the Christmas holidays’,\u00a0after the success of the World Cup last year, according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,3,124,22,21],"tags":[2244,601,602,661,1167,108,85,32378,5406,9507,320,3222,83,40,340,9428,13,1506,87,9508,7726,4,5,32373,9509,531],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t