Slight year-on-year increases in December at Western Cape hotels are a good start for the recovery of the sector that was plagued by low occupancy levels last year. However, this does not mean the past season was particularly great for hotels. This is the word from Fedhasa Cape Chairman, Dirk Elzinga, who was commenting on Western Cape Tourism MEC Alan Winde declaring the past Festive Season a successful one. Elzinga took a more measured approach, but said he hoped the upward trend would continue and result in a better year for the industry.

He cautioned that an average occupancy of 65% in December was no reason to declare the past season a “great” one.

“Yes, we do agree that we have experienced a slight increase compared with December 2010, and we are of course delighted with the increase in international arrivals, but we are definitely not yet back at the average occupancy levels of 2007 and 2008 of around 80% in summer.  In order to operate profitably, hotels in the four and five- star category everywhere in the world need an annual minimal occupancy of around 60%, if not 70%. The fact that this level has been achieved in December 2011 does not mean at all that we can speak about a great season,” he said.