MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The tourism industry is reeling from the impact of lockdown regulations in South Africa and abroad.
It was one of the first industries affected by restrictions imposed because of Covid-19 and it is one of the last that will recover because of the ban on province-to- province and international travel.
Hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs are closed and attractions such as shark cage diving, yacht and boat cruises, safaris and Mossel Bay's newly established Zipline are not operating.
The Mossel Bay Advertiser asked Aneli Gerber, Mossel Bay Tourism's chief operating officer, to comment on the situation.
Gerber said: "In our wildest dreams, tourism experts could not have foreseen this devastating effect on the industry, one of the important arteries of our local economy."
She said: "Our livelihoods are threatened and many businesses have been reduced to bare threads.
"In many ways the playing field is now levelled and what we perceived as the norm will no longer be acceptable. It is crucial that the creators of our tourism products get back to the drawing board and look for new, innovative and authentic ways to sell their offerings to a 'new consumer'."
'Reset, relook, reinvent'
Gerber said tourism roleplayers should "reset, relook and reinvent their product offering".
She noted: "Mossel Bay Tourism foresees that the international tourism market will be slow to recover.
"Remote, uncrowded destinations will become popular. Destinations, products or activities will have to aim for easy social distancing, high standards of hygiene and respectful and responsible interaction with guests.
"Experiences which are not crowded or provide the opportunity for travellers to engage outside of a group environment will be in high demand.
"For the foreseeable future Mossel Bay will have to rely heavily on local travellers, from neighbouring towns and provinces. There will be much pressure on disposable income and holiday breaks will be reduced to weekends and long weekends."
Gerber said tourism experiences which were well priced, provided value for money and added value, would be popular.
Open spaces
She said people's movement had been restricted heavily because of the lockdown and she predicted that people would want to reunite with wide open spaces and the demand for outdoor and adventure experiences could soar in the near future.
Opportunities where friends and family could reunite and eat meals they had not prepared themselves could also become popular. Simple pleasures in the outdoors for small groups or individuals could become the new norm, Gerber suggested
"Mossel Bay Tourism is committed to supporting the local tourism community and is ready to hit the ground running when the lockdown restrictions are eased.
"Tourism has proved to be a resilient sector and with the assistance of regional, provincial and national roleplayers, the tourism industry will be resuscitated and will continue to go from strength to strength."
Adventure tourism
The Mossel Bay Advertiser asked adventure tourism promoter Alewijn Dippenaar for his views on the sector.
Dippenaar is the owner of the business, Adventures Garden Route, and vice-president of the tourism forum, Skål International South Africa. He is also one of the organisers of the successful annual Thousand Sensations culinary event on the Garden Route and the annual Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge.
Earlier this year Dippenaar held meetings with tourism business people on the Garden Route with the view of consolidating the region as an adventure tourism destination.
In response to the Advertiser's enquiry this week, Dippenaar pointed out that it was almost winter in South Africa anyway, traditionally a quiet time for tourism.
Dippenaar noted: "Sea-based adventure tourism such as shark cage diving, as well as other adventure tourism such as skydiving, paragliding and safaries and elephant interactions are mainly supported by foreign tourists. These have come to a standstill and there is unlikely to be great movement when the lockdown restrictions are lifted."
Dippenaar noted that if tourism did start up in other countries, residents in those countries would remain there, not come to the Garden Route or South Africa because tourism was traditionally quiet anyway locally in winter time.
He said: "Right now we should be seriously looking at business models in adventure tourism, how we can co-ordinate accommodation and adventure packages together and looking at business models.
"We need to market these models internationally to people more on email and on websites and look at larger marketing opportunities. This is the challenge the whole world faces. People could lose their marketing value or worth."
Upgrade equipment
Dippenaar said the lockdown was an opportune time for businesses to upgrade their equipment.
"When the lockdown is over, people will assess their premises, outfits and equipment. Money is scarce. They will have to use reserve funds.
"People will be thinking of selling equipment or their businesses."
Dippenaar said the relief offered to adventure tourism businesses because of the effects of the lockdown was limited. "If your business is not 100% Grade 1 BEE, you don't qualify for much assistance."
He believes the adventure tourism industry "will lift its head in another form".
Dippenaar said: "There will be a different, new model. A few people are looking at this. Uniting and working together with unified marketing will receive more attention than individual product marketing."
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