PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plett experienced a bumper tourism season in December, acting Plett Tourism CEO Cindy Wilson-Trollip has confirmed. It offered a packed calendar of sporting and leisure events, great weather, and excellent safety and security in and out of the water.
The economic injection into Plett's tourism, based on data provided by electronic busi-ness payment platform YoCo, was highlighted by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde during his recent budget speech. Winde said it showed that during December 2025, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Plettenberg Bay accounted for 67% of all international visitor payments across the country.
Winde said this translated into R500m flowing into local businesses, protecting and creating jobs.
Wilson-Trollip welcomed the positive statistics but said she needed further information before commenting on the direct effect of these figures on the Plett economy.
With Plett Tourism's surveys not yet complete, indications for December so far showed all accommodation establishments were over 60% full, with 50% being 100% booked.
Services held up
"Occupancy is up on last December for 92% of establishments," said Wilson-Trollip.
Almost all the visitors were young couples, mostly with children, and the split between South African and international visitors was 50/50, with overseas guests hailing from Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.
"Plett services held up well during the drought and Plett did not run dry, with visitors and residents heeding the call to be water wise.
Plett Tourism thanks all the municipal departments and the people on the ground who work above and beyond to give our visitors carefree holidays to remember," she said.
YoCo spokesperson Robynn King said the festive season in South Africa sees a significant shift in spending from inland to coastal areas, benefitting small businesses in these regions.
Spending doubled
Data from YoCo's analysis showed all the country's major metros saw an increase in year-on-year spending, with Cape Town seeing an increase of eight percent. The biggest increases in the Western Cape were seen outside of Cape Town. Small towns in the province received a much larger relative increase in spending during the festive season.
"Still Bay led the province with a 288% increase, followed by Plettenberg Bay (+138%), and Mossel Bay (+105%), who both saw spending more than double from November to December," read the analysis.
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