Seasonality is biggest threat to CT tourism

Despite winter tourism in Cape Town experiencing growth, seasonality remains the biggest threat to the city’s tourism industry, according to Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold.

She said many misperceptions existed around winter being an undesirable time to visit the region, and over-reliance on leisure tourism, which is aligned with Cape Town’s summer season, exacerbated the problem.

“If we cannot establish a year-round demand for Cape Town as leisure, business and events destination, the industry will remain threatened and we will not be able to grow the sector. This is a critical issue for an industry that employs more than 300 000 people and is the second-largest contributor to the Western Cape's GDP.”
 
Cape Town Tourism recently issued a winter occupancy survey for April and May 2012, in which 83 accommodation members, evenly distributed across the Cape Metropole, took part. The survey examined occupancy levels and spending for the period and revealed that the average occupancy rate was 50.28% for April and 39.10% for May.

51.2% of the participating accommodation establishments noted an increase in their year-on-year occupancy levels for the April to May period, and 40.5% of members observed an increase in their average room rate for the period, compared with the same period last year. 

Arrivals at Cape Town International Airport showed a modest 3.89% increase in total passenger movement in April (362,451) and a 3.01% increase (309,000) in May compared with the same time last year. However, peak season arrivals paint a different picture with 431,994 in December 2011 and 355,642 in January.
 
Du Toit-Helmbold said the most challenging months still lay ahead. “May to September is traditionally when occupancy levels dip to their lowest levels. These are the months that require urgent attention.”

She stressed the need for a year-round brand positioning and demand-generation strategy to fill beds during the quieter months, and said that seasonality and destination marketing were not just one organisation’s concern.

“We can only solve Cape Town’s seasonality challenges and create year-round demand through partnerships and through understanding the changing needs and travel habits of potential visitors, whether business or leisure,” said Du Toit-Helmbold.   

“We need collaboration within the industry, innovation, and new experiences to promote joint mobilisation within niche sectors on unusual projects, value-for-money travel packages and convenient access to the destination. We need an exciting calendar of events all year round and we need to cultivate tourism sectors such as food and wine, family travel, extreme adventure and sport.”