'More people than ever before'

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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mossel Bay municipal area was packed with holidaymakers during the festive season.

Many people the Mossel Bay Advertiser spoke to said they had never seen Mossel Bay and surrounding towns so full of people.

PHOTO GALLERY: Mossel Bay area bumper-to-bumper season

Louis Fourie Road in Mossel Bay was extremely busy, with frequent bumper-to-bumper traffic jams. Traffic controllers who had been trained up and deployed specially for the festive season, helped to ease the flow at peak times.

The beaches were fuller than ever before. Even the usually quieter beaches outside of town were packed.

ATKV Hartenbos is the area's largest resort. ATKV national spokesperson Therien Taljaard said the Hartenbos resort held its first Hartenbos gaan groot concert series since the Covid-19 lockdown. This series was definitely a crowd puller.

Taljaard noted: "From information available to us and from what we received from lifeguards, 340 000 people visited beaches in the Mossel Bay municipal area from 16 December to 1 January.

Mossel Bay Municipality noted that 589 994 visited the beaches from 1 December until 10 January.

"Most people were recorded on Hartenbos beaches."

She said: "We accommodated 9 411 guests at the ATKV Hartenbos for December 2022 compared with 9 521 in the same timeframe in 2021.

"What is interesting, and we ascribe this to the fact that Cape schools begin 2023 later than usual, is that already, by 5 January, we had 5 030 guests in the resort, compared with last year's total of 11 605 for the whole month of January, so we expect to record an extremely busy January 2023.

'Month-long campers'

"Now we are waiting for the month-long campers who arrive on 18 January."

Mossel Bay businessman Albert Wiffen, who owns a number of accommodation establishments and restaurants in town, said: "We had a good season; it was comparable to 2019, which was pre-Covid, and much better than 2020 and 2021. Accommodation was fully booked for the peak periods. It was great to have people from the cruise ships in town."

Wiffen is chairman of the Mossel Bay Business Chamber.

He and his business partners own the Zipline at the Point in Mossel Bay, which offers the the longest oversea Zipline ride in the world. He said: "Even though we lost trade due to some windy days, the Zipline had a good season." He added: "The Point Caravan Park was chock-a-block and the lighthouse coffee shop and ten pin bowling rink at The Point had a bumper festive season."

Day after day during the festive season, Santos Beach, which is Mossel Bay's most centrally located beach, was packed. The vehicles of beach goers lined Louis Fourie Road. However, De Bakke Santos Resort manager Chris Viljoen said the resort experienced a quieter season than expected, with "fewer walk-ins". The resort offers self-catering accommodation and a caravan park.

Dias Beach was full of beachgoers and umbrellas on most days during the holiday. Music concerts at Dias also attracted visitors and the first ever Matriekbaai event held early in December meant the festive season began earlier than most years at Dias.

Dirk Steyn, Dias Water Park manager, said: "We were still not as busy as in pre-Covid years, but trade is picking up. Trade started up slowly in December." The park has water slides and a picnic/braai area.

Day after day during the festive season, Santos Beach, which is Mossel Bay's most centrally located beach, was packed.