Guesthouses 'doing well'

Income from the accommodation industry displayed an annual growth of 7% for February, with the main contributors being hotels, contributing 4.3 % and guesthouses, contributing 2.2%.

Income from the accommodation industry displayed an annual growth of 7% for February, with the main contributors being hotels, contributing 4.3 % and guesthouses, contributing 2.2%.

But the growth has not trickled down to all. While one entrepreneur said she was smiling all the way to the bank, another reported decreased revenue.

Entrepreneur Mandisa Mandile, who runs The Trend Guesthouse Cofimvaba in Cofimvaba and Queenstown, Eastern Cape, says business has been thriving since they were opened in 2007.

“This is due to increased demand for accommodation linked to business tourism because there are people who visit local retailers,” said Mandile.

“The other reason for the growth, especially in Queenstown, is because there is no hotel in the town and tourists are always looking for temporary accommodation.”

Each of Mandile’s guesthouses has 12 rooms. Mandile spoke to the news crew after Statistics SA released figures showing that the income increased by 7%.

“The main contributors to the 7% year-on-year increase in income from accommodation in February 2014 were hotels [contributing 4.3 percentage points] and guesthouses and guest farms [contributing 2.2 percentage points].

“Income from accommodation increased by 13.5% in the three months ended February 2014 compared with the three months ended February 2013.

“The main contributors to this increase were hotels and other accommodation,” according to the Stats SA report.

Robert Jones, a partner in Ya Rena in Groblersdal, Limpopo, said the guesthouse, which opened in 2009, had seen the number of patrons increasing, though most of them stay for one night only. Most of the patrons are return visitors.

“They say they can’t stay at the guesthouse for many nights because their budget for accommodation is slightly smaller than in previous years,” Jones said.

Many of the guesthouse’s customers are businesspeople drawn to the area largely because of the citrus farms that export oranges.

Jones said tenderpreneurs who are working on projects on behalf of the municipality also overnight at his guesthouse.