Bay left out in cold season
Tourism body needs more cash to market city as winter destination
EASTERN and southern Cape coastal resorts and towns are leaving Nelson Mandela Bay out in the cold when it comes to boosting their winter “down time” by offering crowd-pulling festivals and events.
The Bay municipality admits it is not doing nearly enough to cash in on this seasonal gap in the market which other coastal centres are taking full advantage of, thereby bolstering their economies.
However, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) says it still needs an extra R7.6-million on top of an allocated R11.6-million to do a proper job of marketing the city to both local visitors and foreign tourists.
Jeffreys Bay, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay – which established Plett Tourism less than a year ago – have all been looking to the future and laying the groundwork through hosting an array of winter events to ensure their towns stay full all year round.
But despite being the economic hub of the Eastern Cape, Nelson Mandela Bay has failed to utilise the city’s pristine coastline, moderate climate and other facilities and offerings to become a winter season attraction.
It is a problem the municipality is aware of, according to municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki.
“Nelson Mandela Bay has also identified the gap. The Nelson Mandela Bay economic development, tourism and agriculture directorate and recreation and culture directorate are working on a plan that will holistically cover all seasons in terms of tourism and recreation that will encourage economic development,” Mniki said.
However, the NMBT business plan for the 2014-15 financial year – into which R11.6-million was injected – was scrutinised by DA councillors, who described it as “vague” at an economic development, tourism and agriculture portfolio committee meeting on July 25.
NMBT still needs to come up with an extra R7.6-million – R19.2-million being the original budget request by NMBT – to help market the city domestically and abroad as a tourism must-see.
Meanwhile, popular destinations to the west of the Bay continue to capitalise on the winter season.
Plett Tourism chairman Peter Wallington said the area had a list of tourist attractions which worked particularly well in winter’s cool to warm temperatures, and minimal wind.
“Plett Tourism has just completed its first year in operation, and has launched the Plett MAD Festival [in June] and will host the first Plett Wine & Bubbly Festival, in conjunction with the Plettenberg Bay Winegrowers Association, in October,” Wallington said.
“These two festivals are designed to complement the growing popularity of the Plett Easter Games, and together they each provide an anchor in each of the three out-of-season periods – Easter, winter and spring. All in all, the municipality contributes about R200 000 annually towards the festivals.”
Knysna Tourism chief executive officer Greg Vogt said the Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival last month, which hosted multiple events, attracted more than 100 000 people to the town.
“The fact that our events are sold to capacity speaks for itself – they are successful. The fact that a festival and event strategy is aimed at specific target markets in winter months serves to fill the winter months. It is another motivating factor that there is economic relevance in holding events in winter. We are continuously building events to celebrate a key theme or target market in our town. The recent launch of the Working With Wood Festival is an example. It speaks to our timber heritage and its focus addresses timber products,” Vogt said.
Closer to home, Kouga Municipality media liaison officer Laura-Leigh Randall said the Jeffreys Bay Winterfest was created to directly address the problem of less foot traffic in the town, which is common among coastal towns in winter.
“The economy of Jeffreys Bay is based on tourism and, as such, takes a dip during the winter months. The Winterfest was created to bring feet to town and provide a financial boost to J’Bay, help businesses become sustainable and provide additional employment opportunities.
“The Winterfest was highly successful and produced a massive amount of local and international media coverage for the town and the region, with television coverage continuing long after the completion of the festival.
“The Winterfest attracted about 30 000 to 40 000 people. The total budget for last year for festivals and events was R165 000, spread across the Citrus Festival in Patensie, R20 000, Nautical Festival in St Francis, R20 000, Winterfest in Jeffreys Bay, R40 000, and the Spring Festival in Humansdorp, also R20 000, with the rest being spread as required.”
Tourism expert Peter Myles said winter tourism was essential, particularly for coastal centres because of its “mul- tiplier effect”.
“When you host an event it has a multiplier effect whereby restaurants, hotels and part-time employment all benefit, particularly in the winter season where particularly coastal economies take a knock because of it being off-season,” Myles said.