Stellenbosch a haven for tourists

STELLENBOSCH tourism figures showed a promising increase last year, with the region seeing a 16.44 % hike in tourists visiting the area.

According to the statistics released yesterday, over the December holiday period, Stellenbosch in Western Cape achieved a growth of 23.25% in December 2015 compared to December 2014.

The holiday destination attributed some of its success to festivals.

Stellenbosch 360 CEO Annemarie Ferns said the University of Stellenbosch’s Woordfees Festival has grown enormously and was expected to reach 110 000 ticket sales this year. “Add to that the numerous other festivals, especially the Stellenbosch Wine Route Wine Festival.”

Ferns said the festivals were firm favourites with tourists. Social media also played a vital role in boosting tourism in the region.

Ferns explained how the use of optimised online strategies and international marketing campaigns added to the increase in tourism figures for 2015. “We followed [2014 visits] up with a similar marketing visit to the US late in 2015, where we visited influential tour operators.”

Ferns said they could have had better results before the current visa regulations were implemented.

“If families with children from the European continent, currently our biggest tourism feeding source, had access to South Africa, we probably would have had the best tourism results in our existence.”

Stellenbosch 360 urged government officials to change the visa regulations so that one of South Africa’s biggest industries could flourish unhindered by such issues.