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News 24 published an article this weekend about the plight of businesses in Franschhoek. It paints a horrific picture of the once famous Gourmet Town, known for its top Restaurants and boutique wineries, to what one business owner speculated could become a \u2018Ghost Town\u2019 if tourists do not return to it soon.<\/p>\n
Franschhoek, like many other towns and cities in our country, has been hard hit by the Corona Virus pandemic, the South African one-year anniversary of its Lockdown to be \u2018celebrated\u2019 later this week. The new South African Virus mutation has made our country very unattractive to visit by international tourists, which probably are the type of tourists South African tourism businesses would love to see return. <\/p>\n
The News24 article quotes Taki\u2019s Restaurant owner Julina Abrahams, the restaurant hardly gourmet, and popular among locals, as sharing that the family put all its savings into the business, and that there is uncertainty. \u2018This is my pension. It\u2019s my son\u2019s future and it\u2019s a family business. I\u2019ve felt so many times that I\u2019m going to lose everything\u2019. <\/i>He added: We\u2019re hanging in there. All our staff are working short time and we had to think differently because we couldn\u2019t afford to carry the cost. It is going to be a ghost town. There is (<\/i>sic) no visitors in the town\u2019s restaurants. The status quo stays no tourists, no business, no food on the table\u2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
African Touch curio shop owner Mary Ackerman echoes the \u2018Ghost Town\u2019 scenario for Franschhoek, adding that \u2018if we don\u2019t get foot traffic quickly then this won\u2019t be Franschhoek anymore\u2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Flamb\u00e9 Gallery owner Regine Theron shares that she has had to move to smaller premises to keep up with the rest. She is quoted as saying that \u2018even locals don\u2019t visit our destination. Everybody who owns a business in the area is affected in a negative way\u2019.<\/i><\/p>\n
Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane visited Franschhoek last Thursday, dining at Foliage. She is quoted as saying (quite heartlessly) that \u2018Because of the pandemic in its nature, you can\u2019t say this is a guarantee (for businesses). Our best bet is to push the domestic tourism market, to assist and visit places like Franschhoek. It\u2019s not possible for me to give guarantees<\/i>\u2019! Yet she added that there are no funds left to support the industry!<\/p>\n
The article quotes statistics of the decline in visitor numbers between December 2019 and 2020, of some of Cape Town\u2019s leading tourist destinations:<\/p>\n
# \u00a0Robben Island – 83% decline<\/p>\n
#. \u00a0Cape Point – down by 69%<\/p>\n
# \u00a0 Table Mountain – 66% decline<\/p>\n
# \u00a0 Two Oceans Aquarium – 56 % drop<\/p>\n
# \u00a0 V & A Waterfront – 50 % decline<\/p>\n
# \u00a0 Kirstenbosch – 48 % decrease.<\/p>\n
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It is a surprise that the CEO of Franschhoek Wine Valley, Franschhoek\u2019s Tourism Marketing body \u00a0Reinher Behrens, is not quoted in the article, nor any top gourmet restaurant or boutique wine farm owners interviewed. It surprises me too that Franschhoek does not actively market the Village to Capetonians in these tough times!<\/p>\n
Given how tough business is, each Franschhoek business needs to focus on superior service. This past weekend two Franschhoek restaurants received very negative reviews on the Cape Town Restaurants : The Good, Bad & Nasty Facebook Group: Essence and Reuben\u2019s!<\/p>\n
Last year I wrote a story of how the village was recovering from Covid, and booming, with new restaurants opening.<\/p>\n