Hospitality industry review by Stephen Hickmore (brief update)
Hospitality Industry update – Since the beginning of October I have been spending valuable time with key clients.
There is a consensus of a slow increase in business levels over the next few months with a spike in bookings in November and early December. This ‘spike’ is largely attributed to small conferences and year end functions.
Some of our clients have started welcoming back aircrews and are seeing an increase in enquiries for small conferences and events. Weddings are making a comeback due to many postponements over the past 6 months.
The local leisure market is picking up in KZN, but remains flat in Cape Town. Some international flights are bringing in tourists as foreign guests start to recognise South Africa as a less risky destination. Cape Town is expecting small gains over December with a likelihood of better business levels from February.
Advance bookings have escalated.. If SA keeps reducing infection rates it is expected that there will be a significant increase in tourism and hospitality business from mid-February. 2021.
We have the British and Irish Lions tour to look forward to from June. An expected 40,000 guests are forecast to arrive for the rugby.
Though cautious, the hospitality and tourism industry is seeing some tangible results.
Stephen is a hospitality professional from Johannesburg South Africa. His career started with THF hotels in the UK and subsequently with the Southern Sun Hotel group in Johannesburg. Stephen’s first steps into entrepreneurship was Hickmore Recruitment / CareerMap, a leading supplier of Senior and Exec recruitment services. Stephen was a founder of Pple Hospitality (formerly HSC) the largest Hospitality Industry full-service outsourced staffing company in South Africa. In March 2020 Stephen became a director and owner of the Swiss Hotel School South Africa, which is now his full time endeavour. Stephen writes for a number of publications on food and hospitality industry matters, trends and opinions.
