SA holiday accommodation industry records strong recovery

Domestic tourism has staged a strong recovery, despite reports of tourism’s continued struggle since March of 2020. This is according to Gerriline Fouché, Head of Marketing at local accommodation booking website, LekkeSlaap.co.za.

Fouché says LekkeSlaap’s booking volumes have not only returned to normal but have increased compared to pre-Covid-19 months: “February, March, and April this year have proven to be exceptional booking months, with volumes surpassing the same period in 2019. In contrast to booking volumes that plummeted to zero in March 2020, current spikes in booking volumes clearly indicate that domestic travel has staged a remarkable recovery.”

While new survey data released by Stats SA indicate a dramatic decline of 72.9% in the overall income generated in the tourism industry for this January compared to the same month last year, LekkeSlaap reports an overall increase in domestic bookings. “While we did see a decline in bookings over December 2020 due to beach closures and other restrictions, we again saw an uptick in bookings once these restrictions were lifted. While a slightly lower revenue was expected during this time, the sharp increase in bookings from February, and the upward trajectory that continued thereafter, does not echo the figures released by Stats SA. We’re already gearing up for a busy 2021 festive season, with many popular towns already starting to fill up for the Christmas period.”

Fouché further mentions that the company is experiencing an extended Easter peak. Usually, booking volumes would ease after Easter, whereas volumes generally seen in Easter are still holding strong well after those long weekends. “While the accommodation booking industry continues to be a seasonal business, the global pandemic has clearly had a hand in shifting the seasonal booking trends we’re accustomed to. This, together with the changing school- year calendar, has ensured a longer peak booking period than we’re used to.”

When asked whether LekkeSlaap had expected such a quick recovery given the devastating blows the industry suffered just over a year ago, Fouché indicated that none of their forecasts had predicted this upward trend to occur as soon as it did. During a survey conducted by the company in May of last year, most accommodation business owners (55,2%) expected booking volumes to only return to normal levels by the 2020 festive season. With LekkeSlaap already reaching record-number booking days in September 2020, they started experiencing recovery much sooner than the expectation created by their collected data.

While LekkeSlaap has experienced a strong recovery over the past six months, the data released by Stats SA clearly indicates that the larger tourism sector continues to struggle. Fouché surmises that LekkeSlaap’s business-as-usual trajectory can largely be attributed to the company’s emphasis on domestic travel, while the lack of international travellers visiting

South Africa is likely the main source of the larger tourism sector’s woes. “We consider ourselves incredibly lucky. Many businesses in the accommodation sector suffered greatly due to the pandemic and some continue to struggle to get back on their feet. To be able to say that LekkeSlaap has experienced a strong recovery despite the many challenges the industry continues to face is a privilege we do not take for granted.”

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