PRESS RELEASE - November 1998

KWAZULU NATAL SET FOR BUMPER HOLIDAY SEASON

Kwazulu Natal is set for a bumper Festive Season, despite the general economic downturn, with the majority of resorts surveyed reflecting figures well up on last year’s bookings.

These figures support SATOUR’s most recent research report that Kwazulu Natal is still the holiday destination of choice for over 50% of South
Africans.

The South Coast is attracting a significant share of the market according to figures from South Africa’s leading holiday club, Club Leisure Group. The Club’s marketing director, Rioma Cominelli, reports bookings of over 30% higher than last year. Durban is not lagging far behind, with a 15% increase in visitors expected.

"We have picked up a definite change in attitude towards Durban which is far more positive this year", she says. Cominelli believes that Durban will always hold attraction for a large number of up-country visitors. "New markets are also opening up and replacing the percentage of traditional visitors to the city who are now looking to North and South Coast for their holiday".

Frank Vincent, General Manager Operations for Tourism Durban, attributes Durban’s renewed popularity to the clean-up campaign on the Beachfront. "We are finding that word-of-mouth is the City’s best marketing tool. The beachfront is undoubtedly much cleaner and brighter with the new floodlights and visitors are experiencing this for themselves", he says. The main market for Durban remains the Transvaal and Orange Free-State.

He believes that the future will continue to look bright for Durban given the commitment demonstrated by the North and South Local Council’s who are taking the beachfront clean up very seriously. A beachfront manager has been appointed whose responsibility it is to ensure that positive campaigns and promotions for the area run smoothly and are able to cut through logistical red tape.

Rioma Cominelli believes that holiday makers are becoming increasingly discerning and are not only price driven. "The North Coast remains very popular although it appeals to a more selective market which is growing as the public becomes increasingly discerning". This is borne out by the survey conducted by Tourism Durban which shows that booking figures for Umhlanga are significantly up on last year.

Cominelli believes that one of the keys to ensuring that the high number of timeshare resorts at the Coast continue to attract visitors, is
education. "The timeshare industry has been somewhat maligned in the past by trustees and managing agents who have failed to build-in adequate replacement levies for aging resorts.

With escalating maintenance costs, sharp levy increases and special levies have been implemented to realign costs. However, this issue has been largely addressed now and is unlikely to recur as agents, developers and users become more sophisticated".

A case in point is leading holiday club, Flexi-Club, who reports that the demand has been such that the Club has purchased additional weeks at the Club’s expense to meet members requests. The Club has managed to meet every one of its members exchange requests for the Christmas Season for the forth time in a row supporting their claim of providing flexible holiday options.