Cape Town hotel activity surprises despite drought
City enjoys strong holiday season, pulling in the tourists despite water crisis and day-zero warnings
The resilience of Cape Town’s hotel market has surprised experts who thought that 2018’s drought and water restrictions would have driven visitors to a host of other tourist destinations. According to data released by STR Global, the Cape Town market ended 2018 with a 65% occupancy compared with 69.5% in 2017 and a decline of only 0.7% in rooms sold. The market was helped by good trade over the 2018 festive season, and one hotel consultant expects the 2019 holiday season to be a bumper period. The drought’s effects turned out to be temporary and momentum returned, HTI Consulting CEO Wayne Troughton said on Monday. HTI is a consultancy that provides research and strategy services for the hotel and tourism industry in Africa and the Middle East. Many Cape Town hotels were losing visitors in the first half of 2018 with the Western Cape’s government having warned that the city would reach day zero with taps running dry. This was forecast to occur in March and then again in April 2018. D...
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