Summer season ended on a high note for tourism

The 2018 summer holiday season statistics were revealed at the Ugu South Coast Tourism annual strategy review and business planning session held at the Margate Hotel last week Wednesday.

The Visitor Satisfaction Survey, which was conducted during the December/January peak season at seven of the Visitor Information Centres from Scottburgh through to Port Edward, noted the high level of satisfaction by visitors to the area.

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By all accounts, the South Coast was voted as one of the best holiday destinations and on a positive note, some emerging tourism businesses said it was their best season ever.

Ugu South Coast Tourism CEO, Phelisa Mangcu, was delighted and concluded that had it not been for the shortened school holidays, she was confident that the season would have been exceptional.

“We are especially grateful to the municipalities, stakeholders, as well as multi-disciplinary task teams, police and various municipal services for ensuring problems were dealt with timeously.”

The majority of visitors surveyed (80-86 percent) rated the destination and its beaches with the highest scores, citing helpful, friendly locals, cleanliness, weather, safety and beaches as the main reasons for their high scores. Many rated their accommodation five out of five, with 76 percent overall giving establishments top ratings.

A staggering 99 percent of summer holidaymakers, including visitors from all nine provinces and seven international countries, said they would recommend the KZN South Coast to family and friends.

Their top 10 reasons for doing so include lots to see and do; natural beauty; quiet and peaceful; friendly, welcoming locals; nice, warm weather; beaches; safety; cleanliness; family and child-friendly and, as always, affordability.

The KZN South Coast as a destination bucks the global trend in that it has a very high level of repeat visitors, with many returning year after year. The survey revealed that 86 percent were repeat visitors, who on average have been coming to the KZN South Coast for more than 10 years.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better response from our highly valued visitors. They have provided us with great insights and we will be paying close attention to those areas where we can maintain their great experiences, as well as improve on them,” said Ms Mangcu.

The successful summer season follows hot on the heels of the best sardine run in 14 years.

All in all, this was considered very promising to Ugu South Coast Tourism and its members, who now await the official visitor statistics from Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.

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