PIC: GEORGE MUNICIPALITY
George, the second largest city in the Western Cape after Cape Town, experienced a bustling holiday season, with accommodation levels reaching 80% to full occupancy.
According to the municipality, the busiest period was between the 22nd of December through January 3rd.
It says shorter stays, around four to five days, were common, with increased domestic visitors from major cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Gqeberha.
International visitors also showed growth, pleasing tourism stakeholders.
Reflecting on the recent festive season, executive mayor Leon van Wyk expressed satisfaction with George's tourism performance.
“Comparatively, the Garden Route region fared well, aligning with the success seen in Cape Town.
“Daily flights and passenger numbers reflected similar positive trends, with accommodation levels consistently above 80%, often reaching full capacity,” he said.
Mayor Van Wyk credited the success to the “innovative approaches of participants in the tourism sector and the municipality's thorough preparedness for the tourist season”.
He added: “What we’ve also seen is that those providers who have been able to be adaptive, agile and have novel ideas, have done extremely well.
“We as the municipality have also prepared very well for our tourism season and that has certainly helped in giving a pleasurable experience.”
George municipality said domestic tourism was still king over the festive season, with 47% of visitors to the George municipal area originating from within South Africa.
The top five domestic source markets were Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion, Pretoria and Gqeberha.
It said 43% of December visitors were from an international source market, predominantly travellers from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
