A bumper weekend to start off season
A host of festivals and events over the past weekend in the Overstrand have set the scene for what is expected to be a bumper summer season.
“The combination of music, wine, food and sports events, together with displays by the whales in the bay, kept everyone entertained and not even the rainy weather on Sunday could deter people from being part of the action,” said Cape Whale Coast Tourism Manager, Frieda Lloyd.
According to her, several international groups, including representatives from a whale festival in America and a Brazilian media crew, came to observe and report on what Hermanus had to offer.
Accommodation establishments were filled to capacity and several indicated that they achieved their best occupation rates over the last two weeks, since the end of the previous summer season. Several tourists looking to book accommodation in Hermanus this past weekend could only be accommodated in neighbouring towns.
The mix of events and festivals included the 28th annual Hermanus Whale Festival, the Hermanus Wine and Food Festival, the GetSavvi Walker Bay 7s, the Ubumnandi Music Festival and the Build It 7s Rugby Festival.
Jeanette du Toit, the organiser of the Whale Festival, said that although this year’s festival had its challenges, the vibe in town was positively electric and visitors had a wide choice of activities and stalls to choose from.
“This year the Eco-Marine Tent was exceptionally busy and afforded visitors the opportunity to learn more about our ecosystems along with the challenges we face in preserving our unique natural environment for future generations. As the only eco-marine festival in the country, our commitment to the environment was illustrated by the tremendous job our cleaners did this year. Several visitors and locals commented on how clean the festival area was kept. The municipality must also be commended for their hard work in keeping the bins clean and removing refuse bags as fast as possible.”
Du Toit said the rainy weather had an impact on the number of people who attended the festival this year. “Last year we had approximately 100 000 people attending over the three days. I am still waiting on confirmation of the final figures, but I can safely say that the number of visitors was around 80 000, with most of the people attending on Saturday.”