GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - In the wake of the presidential address on 14 December, Garden Route accommodation establishments have been hit hard by cancellations, with Knysna and Sedgefield bearing the brunt of the fallout.
Accommodation booking website NightsBridge polled 166 guest houses yesterday, Sunday 20 December, to establish the extent of the damage caused to accommodation establishments in the Garden Route.
According to NightsBridge MD Theresa Emerick, of those polled, 143 (86%) reported 746 cancellations between them since the announcement on Monday evening. A further 11 Garden Route accommodation owners reported an 80% to 100% loss of revenue for December and January. Furthermore, one third of the guest houses said they’ve lost 50% of all their bookings for the season.
Some semblance of hope remains for some establishments, as 169 bookings were postponed to early next year, April 2021 or even as far ahead as December 2021.
"While it means accommodation owners might be able to hang on to some of the deposits they already received, it immediately reduces their future income opportunities," Emerick said.
In total, the value of the accommodation cancellations across the region is just shy of R4-million, with Knysna and Sedgefield reporting losses of R1,16-million - the most in the region. Plettenberg Bay reported losses of just under R770 000 - the third most in the region.
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