Accommodation establishments in Nelson Mandela Bay are gearing up for a record-breaking holiday season.
In a survey by short-term loan provider Wonga, the Eastern Cape has emerged as a top destination for holidaymakers this December, eclipsed only by KwaZulu-Natal, for those looking to travel within SA.
Along the beachfront, some guest houses and B&Bs are fully booked for the latter part of the month and New Year.
Other establishments in the Gqeberha suburbs are cautiously expecting full houses based on pre-booking.
Discover Mandela Bay project manager Shaun van Eck said a snap survey showed similar trends to last year, with outlets booked later into December.
He said 12 establishments had been contacted for the snap survey.
“There was a bump from the 16th [2023] and many accommodations are hoping for a similar trend this year.
“What is clear in the last five years is that we have been having a shorter season as more people arrive from the 18th to the 20th.”
“Last year we also could not capitalise after New Year, so the city in the future has to have more of a co-ordinated plan to make sure we have leisure activities and capitalise on business travel,”
A trend also picked up is an increase in bookings through Airbnb.
PE Metro Bed and Breakfast Association chair Shena Wilmot said: “We are cautiously optimistic, but early numbers indicate we might have the best season we have had in the last little while,” she said.
“Summerstrand accommodations at this stage will be fully booked.
“It is usually the B&Bs and guest houses in places like Walmer and Central that will have more people as the season progresses.”
The city’s tourism industry is hoping for a recovery this year after seeing slightly fewer visitors in 2023 compared with the previous summer season.
The owner of Humewood’s Lalapanzi Guest Lodge, William Duckett, said so far their visitor turnover and bookings had been on par with last year.
“The past two weeks and about until the end of this week we had a lot of businesspeople come through,” he said.
“From December 20, we have holiday guests until New Year’s Day.
“So far we are about 75% booked, which is the same as last year.
“People tend to leave their arrangements till the last minute, so I expect that we should be fully booked and busy till after New Year.”
The Hub Boutique Hotel operations manager Vicky Coetzee said they were fully booked for Christmas and the first week of the new year.
The hotel is in Walmer.
“We are doing great. We expect to have the same season as last year, when we were basically fully booked throughout,” she said.
The Garden Gate Guest House in Newton Park is also chock-a-block early into the month.
“We have a lot of pre-booking compared with last year. Reservations are already at 90% from Christmas week,” manager Linky Nel said.
According to the Wonga annual summer spending survey, South Africans are expected to spend more than R284bn during the upcoming holiday season.
The survey, in its seventh year, collected data from 13,775 respondents across the country.
Wonga chief marketing officer James Williams said while 37% of respondents said they were planning to spend less, interest rate cuts had helped ease the pressure on wallets.
Respondents indicated an average budget of R6,832 for this festive period.
“Interest rate cuts helped ease 39% of respondents’ budgets and this survey was conducted after the first 25 basis points interest rate cut,” Williams said.
“This [R6,832] is a significant increase from last year’s spend of R5,707 and is the highest figure reported since the survey was first conducted in 2018, with the lowest spend of R5,673 recorded during the pandemic in 2020.”
The Eastern Cape emerged as the second most popular travel destination, with 17% of respondents stating they planned to go to the province for reasons such as holidays and visiting family.
KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of travel plans at 18%.
“Many people have still not chosen to travel, the primary reason being unable to afford inflated travel costs,” Williams said.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.