Domestic Tourism On The Increase

The Cape Whale Coast can attest to the trend below as figures recorded by Kleinmond Tourism show a definite increase in caravan holidays which by-and-large are for locals.

Palmiet Caravan Park. Figures up 30% on 2009
Kleinmond Caravan Park. Figures up 24% on 2009

A definite trend towards domestic tourism led to a surprisingly prosperous holiday season for a large number of Eastern Cape tourism products. Members of Ectour, the private sector group marketing organisation for the Eastern Cape, were very positive about the increase in tourist numbers over the December 2010 - J anuary 2011 period.

Despite the unusually rainy weather in some parts of the province and the drought in others, some Ectour members experienced a very positive increase in bookings compared to 2009,” says Ectour Chairperson, Anleen Louw.

According to Annabelle Hobson, Owner of the Angler and Antelope near Somerset East, holiday makers are now including the ‘journey’ as part of their holiday. “Travellers are breaking up their trips into smaller distances and finding places to stay overnight,” says Hobson. “Once visitors have experienced our product, they tend to stop over on the way back too.”

Hobson also noted that the number of spontaneous bookings had increased. “A number of our bookings were not pre-planned. We attribute the success of these spontaneous bookings to our strong Internet marketing campaigns, as a lot of these bookings were made using the Internet or other mobile devices while the guests were on the road.”