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Consumer price index data published by Statistics South Africa indicate that hotel prices in the Western Cape have dropped by over 11% from May 2017 to May 2018.
The CEO of Fedhasa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, confirmed that there had been a low demand from international and regional travellers to the region in recent months and added that this was expected to be an ongoing trend for the rest of the year.
Tshivhengwa highlighted Day Zero threats, the rand weakening, and high inventory as some of the contributing factors for the drop in prices.
Vanya Lessing, CEO of Sure Travel, had a similar view but said the price drop afforded local travellers and agents an opportunity to book hotels in the Cape Town region at a lower price, describing it as “the perfect storm”.
Craig van Rooyen, Director of Tour d’ Afrique, told Tourism Update that the demand for travel to the region was down 30% for the coming December holidays compared with the same period last year. “The added competition from Airbnb, which has over 17 000 properties in the Western Cape, has also naturally displaced many bookings from the traditional hotel and tour operator business. There are also certain European markets under pressure and we have seen a significant drop in the UK market this past year compared with two years of really robust growth, and this has also affected our peak season bookings,” added Van Rooyen.
Source: tourismupdate.co.za