Holidaymakers give Ballito the nod with bumper festive season

Ballito ranked among the cream of the crop when it came to attracting holidaymakers to the district during the festive period.

With almost 500 000 vehicles travelling into KZN just on the N3 alone between December 14 to 28, and King Shaka International Airport recording the arrival of more than 90 000 passengers, the district noted a remarkable influx of holidaymakers.

According to KZN premier, Sihle Zikalala, hotel occupancy rates for the district reached around 80%, but statistics are still being finalised.

The majority of tourists are said to have arrived from Gauteng, with Zikalala commenting that KZN remained the number one domestic tourism option, especially for Gauteng visitors.

“The hospitality industry is beginning to recover after 2 years of suffering. Right now, we have seen an occupancy rate of more than 80% in Durban and iLembe, with other KZN areas reaching over 70%.”

iLembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism CEO, Cobus Oelofse, said a number of factors contributed to some in the hospitality industry describing it as ‘the best season yet in recent years’ on the North Coast.

“Factors which contributed were the travel restrictions which forced travellers to look at local alternatives, the Ballito Pro surfing competition being postponed to December, mild weather, and problems experienced by other holiday destinations experiencing infrastructure and service disruptions, including beach closures owing to sewage spills,” he said.

He said exact figures would be published next month in the iLembe Business Confidence Index.

“Although the season began later than expected, all secondary service industries benefitted from an extended, bumper season. Feedback about the behaviour of beachgoers and compliance to by-laws by the public were positive.”

Ballito Junction Regional Mall, the district’s largest shopping destination, recorded almost 1.3 million shoppers during December.

The highest foot count recorded was on Christmas Eve with more than 68 000 shoppers rushing in to finish up on last minute shopping.

Junction CEO, Geraldine Jorgensen, said she was grateful for the support of locals and holidaymakers alike.

“It was a combined effort and our tenants and their staff worked hard to ensure a great festive shopping and entertainment experience.”

Cyberview Letting, an accommodation letting agency with many units along Ballito, Chaka’s Rock and Salt Rock, noted that Gauteng brought in 70% of bookings, with the remainder evenly spread between the Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

“Although the season began a bit later, we only had 60% occupancy over the first 2 weeks of December. From December 20 everybody was fully booked until January 8,” said owner, Inus van Schalkwyk.

“It might be because the Covid restrictions were eased but the pressure for accommodation was very high,” he said, noting that local laundry services also battled to cope with the influx of holidaymakers.

All letting agencies had record turnovers.

Dry and Clean Ballito owner, Roy Travers, agreed that business had been booming in the laundry department, describing the past few weeks as a “crazy time”.

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