This holiday season has been good after a slow start
Strong trading during the festive season has set the tone for 2020, according to Frieda Lloyd, Cape Whale Coast Tourism Manager.
She said it was quiet on the Cape Whale Coast until Monday 16 December, when visitors arrived in their masses in the Overstrand.
Over the season travellers made use of booking online and walk-ins at tourism offices to ask for further recommendations and suggestions of where to eat and details about the events calendar.
According to Lloyd, the Overstrand saw more international travellers than usual, but the South African source market remained strong. She said: “The weather played a big role as always, and we did not experience many beach days this holiday, this was to the benefit of restaurants, retail and indoor activities.”
Gideon Serfontein, the chairperson of the Hermanus Business Chamber, shares the same sentiments and says most of the restaurants benefited from the cooler weather as visitors tended to move indoors during those days.
According to Serfontein, the 2019-20 summer season had a bit of a fitful start early in December mainly because of load shedding.
“However, most businesses in Hermanus soon adapted to this and once electricity supply was normal, they were all ready to deal with the increase in the number of visitors to our town.”
He adds that most of the businesses had an increase in customers in December as per the normal trade cycle and that there was some growth from the previous year, “however it was clear that consumers were more discerning on how much and what they spend.”
Serfontein says overall it was a good season, from which most businesses benefited, and she is thankful that Hermanus as a community once again lived up to its reputation as a preferred and safe holiday destination.
Lloyd says she is positive about the next three months and is looking forward to the influx of “swallows”, some of whom have started arriving.