Crumbling roads blamed for 'disappointing' tourism season

THE tourism industry association, Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa), has blamed challenges linked to the country's infrastructure as being one of the reasons for a disappointing performance during the festive season.

- GCWALISILE KHANYILE

While Fedhasa will release full statistics for the sector's festive season performance in mid-February 2026, its national chairperson, Brett Tungay, said their anecdotal statistics for the festive season became very much of a mixed bag across the country.

Despite the disappointment, areas like Mossel Bay and the Waterfront in Cape Town did very well, he said.

“The high-end tourism destinations continued to do well, while the mid-level and low-levels saw a drop. The prime spots occupancy rate sat between 80 and 85%, but then, as soon as you went out of the prime tourism spots, most people reported 70 to 75%. That was the general trend for this festive season,” Tungay said.

Even those destinations that appear to have done well reported results similar to the previous festive season.