Western Cape Business 2017 edition

OVERVIEW Outside of the

OVERVIEW Outside of the Cape Town CBD, a revamp of the Ritz in Sea Point will add another 220 rooms to the city’s capacity while in Franschhoek, the last word in luxury has opened as Leeu House (part of the Leeu Collection). Analjit Singh has also acquired Le Quartier Français restaurant, one of best known in a town where outstanding restaurants are plentiful, and a wine label, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines. Protea Hotels, now part of the Marriott Group, has 10 hotels in Cape Town and a further one each in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. There are two hotels in George. Three of the brands of City Lodge Hotel Group are represented by seven hotels in the Western Cape, with all but one of the hotels (the George Town Lodge) being located in Cape Town. Hilton Hotels and Resorts has three Western Cape properties, two hotels in Cape Town and the Conrad Pezula Resort & Spa on the eastern head of the Knysna Heads. The Waterfront will soon be getting two more hotels (Radisson Red) and the Silo Hotel attached to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. In addition to all of these beds available in Cape Town, there are 15 000 properties on Airbnb. A Western Cape tourism delegation met with Airbnb in the USA in 2016. Country Hotels has upgraded the 42-room Clanwilliam Hotel as part of its plan to roll out good accommodation in smaller towns. What used to be known as the Hantam Hotel in Calvinia is now the refurbished Calvinia Hotel and Tankwa Lodge offering 25 airconditioned rooms and easy access to flower-spotting and the Tankwa Karoo National Park. Plett Lagoon Villa on the Keurbooms Lagoon is rather different to the rest of the Country Hotels suite of hotels in that it is a fivebedroomed house to rent. Country Hotels has other hotels in the Northern Cape Province. Events The international HSBC Rugby Sevens tournament was held for the first time in Cape Town in 2015 and was a huge success. The City of Cape Town says that the tournament attracted more than 100 000 fans, at least 25 000 of whom were international visitors. The local economy benefited to the tune of R539-million. A contract has been signed to keep the tournament in the city to 2018. The Cape2Rio yacht race returns to the Cape in January 2017. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017 110

OVERVIEW In the last race in 2014, a total of eleven of the fleet of 37 boats had to retire in stormy weather, testament to the tough nature of the event. The event first took place in 1971 and since then it has become a byword for the glamour and gruelling nature of long-distance yacht racing. Royal Cape Yacht Club will host the event, which is sure to boost the coffers of Cape Town’s tourism industry. The Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) is held every year in Oudtshoorn in April. It attracts hundreds of artistic productions of every sort, mostly in Afrikaans, with attendances normally topping 90 000 festival-goers ONLINE RESOURCES CapeNature: www.capenature.co.za Cape Town Tourism: www.capetown.travel Destinations Expo: www.cadek.co.za Garden Route and Klein Karoo: www.visitgardenrouteandkleinkaroo.com South African Golf Tourism Association: www.sagta.co.za South African National Parks: www.sanparks.co.za South African Tourism: www.southafrica.net Tourism Business Council of South Africa: www.tbcsa.travel Tourism Grading Council: www.tourismgrading.co.za Wesgro: www.wesgro.co.za Cape to Rio: www.cape2rio2017.com Plettenberg Bay: www.plett-tourism.co.za Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa: www.wessa.org.za 111 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017