The global economic crisis may not be such a bad thing for South African tourism after all, given its effect on the Rand exchange rates, and resultant greater affordability as a destination for international tourists.  Domestic tourism too should benefit from the exchange rate volatility, in that locals may switch to local holidays over the festive season, instead of going overseas.

The outlook for 2009 and 2010 is favourable, given the Confederations Cup and British Lions Tour taking place in winter 2009, and the soccer World Cup taking place in winter 2010.  Winter traditionally is a very low income period for the Western Cape in particular.

The past week has seen the US dollar exceed R 10, its weakest ever, and exchange rates of R 18 to the pound sterling and R 14 to the Euro.   It is the dollar exchange rate volatility that may cost the country a petrol price decrease next month, and also may see an interest rate increase instead of the hoped-for decrease. 

The tourism industry appears to be optimistic to date about the effect of the international credit crunch.   Tourism Business Africa quotes Joop Demes of Pam Golding Hospitality as saying that the hotel market grew by 19% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year.  Growth is in Gauteng, and particularly for hotels at OR Thambo airport in Johannesburg.   Revenue per available room has increased by 16 %, and by 19 % for 5-star hotels, and by 25% in Johannesburg.  Demes says that about three-quarters of the country’s 57 000 hotel rooms are booked by locals, driven in particular by the MICE market of conferences and meetings, as well as budget holidays.  Business Day reports that local hoteliers do not yet see an immediate impact of the financial market turmoil, but a slowdown in the next few months is certain.   Hotel performances in the USA have already declined sharply, as measured by the STR Global surveys. 

Travel agents are seeing a switch to bookings of domestic products. Their international clients are booking accommodation inclusive of meals, as a result of the exchange rate weakening, and are paying more promptly, to avoid further price increases, reports Travel News Weekly.   The credit crunch is also driving locals to game reserves, instead of overseas, as well as to beach hotels in the province, says FEDHASA KwaZulu-Natal, Southern Sun Hotels confidently predicts that 2009 will be busier than 2010, not only because of the Confederations Cup and British Lions Tour, but also due to the elections and inauguration of the new President, Soccerex, the Australian and English cricket tours, and the FIFA World Cup Final Draw, which takes place in Cape Town in December 2009, reports Travel News Weekly.   Southern Sun has contracted about 10 000 of its rooms to MATCH, the FIFA accommodation agency, and is the single largest accommodation provider for the World Cup 2010.

Kurt Ackermann of the Afrikatourism blog, writing on Travelwires, questions the focus on international tourists, given the global economic problems, and says the World Cup 2010 “could be more of a distraction than a solution (to the projected decline in tourism growth in the next decade).  He writes that 2010 will see a marked fall-off in international tourism, and encourages the industry to start attracting the domestic market, with better price offers, to avoid having to close down their businesses, in what he calls “a significant shakeout starting in the winter of 2011”.

The tourism industry in the Western Cape is facing challenging times. After a very wet winter and the wettest September in 50 years, sky high petrol prices, as well as international stock market turmoil, the industry is slightly more optimistic about the season ahead.   Climate change is affecting tourism, with Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company CEO Sabine Lehmann saying: "We have had the worst weather at the top of the mountain in 10 years of record keeping.   We have had five months in the past financial year with record bad weather patterns".   Visitor numbers dropped by about 10 % to 785 000 in the year ending June.   The launch of the new Table Mountain Cafe is to make the company less dependent on tourist visits to the mountain top.

 

“Black Friday” 10 October is behind us, and the courageous emergency plan by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has had an immediate impact on bookings.   November looks to be well booked, and even bookings for the rest of October appear to be picking up.

  

Cape Town has been voted the top city in Africa and the Middle East by Conde Nast Traveler readers' in the Readers' Choice Awards, in the company of Buenos Aires (South America), San Francisco (USA), Bangkok (Asia), Sydney (Australia/Pacific) and Florence (Europe).    San Francisco has won as the best USA city sixteen years in a row, mainly based on its good restaurants.    Singapore Airlines won the best airline award on international routes for 20 out of the past 21 years, and Virgin America won on domestic routes for the first time.   Crystal won the large cruise liner award, and Seabourn the small cruise liner award.  Jerusalem and Damascus took second and third place after Cape Town as Top Cities in the Africa/Middle East category. Three Cape Town hotels were rated the best in Africa, namely the Cape Grace, Twelve Apostles and the Table Bay Hotel.   The Grande Roche in Paarl was voted the second best Resort in Africa.  Reported in the November issue, the awards list reflects the votes of more than 32 000 readers. 

  

TIME has sung the praises of Cape Town, for its scenic beauty, restaurants and nightlife.   The 29 September issue article opens as follows: "It's difficult to have a bad day in Cape Town.  Spread over the slopes of Table Mountain, the city is one of the world's most beautiful".  The article describes Cape Town as a cultural, political and historical hub, and praises its food and wine, being close to "some of the world's best winelands".   

 

 

The mid-week Heritage Day on 24 September was a welcome boost to the tourist industry, with many locals taking the two successive days off to create a long weekend, thereby leading to good accommodation occupancies and restaurant business during the public holiday week. The Hermanus Whale Festival has been a success, judging by the accommodation shortage in the town in this period.

The Cape Odyssey race, a trail race for runners organised by the same team involved in the Cape Epic for cyclists, finished at Boschendal wine estate in Franschhoek earlier this month.  The race had a powerful impact on tourism in the towns through which the race was run, including Hermanus and Franschhoek, with sold-out accommodation.   More than 300 runners participated in the blistering 200 km race, taking them from Hermanus, to Kleinmond, through Elgin and Grabouw, on to the finish at Franschhoek.

Princes William and Harry are putting South Africa on the map, with their participation in an eight-day off-road motorcycle Enduro Africa rally between Durban and Port Elizabeth, a route of more than 1 600 km., reports Reuters.  The princes' participation will raise funds for Prince Harry's Sentebale charity for AIDS orphans in Lesotho, UNICEF, and the Nelson Mandela Childrens' Fund.

It would appear that the political turmoil in September has had little or no impact on tourism. Perhaps the speedy replacement of ex-President Mbeki by new President Motlanthe, as well as the re-instatement of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel quickly helped to calm the feelings of South Africans.

Restaurants too are feeling the credit crunch (incidentally, the opportunistic name of a new chocolate bar launched in the UK).  TIME reports that the $550 billion American restaurant industry is stagnant, causing cashflow problems due to rising labour and food costs.  Restaurant chains appear to be particularly hard hit in the USA.   No-tip self-serve fast food outlets are likely to gain from the depression, predicts the magazine.   Whilst the average number of restaurant meals enjoyed by Americans remained the same at 22 per year, the number of restaurants in the USA grew by 14 %.  The same is likely to be true for the South African restaurant industry.

Cape Town sees the visit by international stars as the festive season draws near.   Lionel Ritchie will be performing at Sahara Park in Newlands on 22 November, while Rod Stewart will also perform there on 1 December.   Helmut Lotti is loved by the European crowd, and will be performing at Grand Arena on 2 November.

Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, has won the 2008 World Mayor Prize, ahead of Mayors of Nuernberg, Zurich, Gothenburg, Tehran, Phoenix, Chacao, Guayaquil, Marikina City, Villa Nueva and Porto Alegre. The only female nominee on the final shortlist, Mayor Zille has been recognised for her dedication to and passion for Cape Town, and going beyond the call of duty. Not only do we have an iconic city, but now our Mayor Zille is adding to our iconic status by being elected as World Mayor. Well done and congratulations to her for all her hard work, in making Cape Town a better Mother City for all!

Robben Island needs a drastic management shake-up, in allowing the facility to be closed for two weeks in the busiest tourism month of November.   This most valuable tourism time has been chosen to implement maintenance and repair work on the Island’s tour busses, refurbishment of their ferries, and to cull the growing number of rabbits, reports TravelHub!   Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold has deplored the timing of the closure.  “We are concerned about the impact that this closure will have on the tourism industry, in particular tour operators and travel plans of visitors. Robben Island is one of Cape Town’s most iconic visitor attractions and most visitors include Robben Island on their itineraries.” 

Portfolio, the accommodation directory, has also developed a taste for blogging, and has created a site http://travelblog.portfoliocollection.com, which it describes as "the informed choice for the independent traveller". Portfolio has bragged about being the "Benchmark of the Best", but many leading properties have stopped advertising in the company's three publications, due its exorbitant advertising rates and poor on-line booking performance.