The South African tourism industry took a big knock this year. When intraprovincial travel was announced, Hermanus hoped to make up for lost time as the current whale season continued without any international tourists in sight.
Whale signage, whale fountains, whale chimneys, whale gates and even a whale-themed bench. Take a drive around, it feels like most of the town is whale themed. Hermanus will pop-up in almost every top ten list of the best places in the world to go whale watching. Whale tourists pull in a decent size seasonal income for the town in a normal year, says Nicky Currie, tourism office manager at Hermanus.
In 2019, 58% of the Overberg’s (the region Hermanus falls under) tourists were overseas visitors according to Cape Town and Western Cape tourism trade and investment (WESGRO) statistics. With the international travel ban in place, the town has seen no foreign tourists since the end of March.
“This year has been tough,” says Currie.
In previous years, Nicky says that the town could make enough money in just two or three weeks, during the peak of the whale-watching season. This was enough to make it through winter. Whale season runs from June to mid-December, according to Southern Right Charters’ website.
Overlooking Gearings Point, one of the popular whale watching spots in Hermanus. Currie remarks that it is normally full of joggers and spectators.
“It’s a sad moment for me, to be walking now and it’s quiet,” she says.
PHOTO: Byron Latham
People come for the whales and afterwards they want somewhere to stay.
According to WESGRO statistics, most travellers stay overnight, come in parties of more than one, and are visiting for leisure.
Currie walks through a hypothetical family stay for internationals visiting Hermanus. They want to book a charter to go out into the bay to see the whales. Then they want to be able to stay somewhere for a while to increase their chances of spotting one. Afterwards, they will want to taste the local wine and eat local food (Hermanus is the only UNESCO city of gastronomy – yes, that’s a real thing – in Africa). Visitors want to enjoy themselves and explore what the town, and surrounding area, has to offer, she says.
Knock-on effect
Using a horn made from kelp to signal the sighting of a whale in the bay, the town employs a “whale crier”. The crier’s job is to let people know when a whale is sighted by blowing his horn. Hermanus is the only town in the world to use one.
Patrolling the cliffs above the bay, Bravo Thembinkosi Sobazile, the current whale crier, has a vantage point that allows him to observe the sea, as well as the town.
“At this time, it’s very difficult. It’s not only difficult for me, it’s difficult for the businesses,” says Sobazile as he mans the Hermanus booking and information office opposite the cliff path.
The community has felt the effects of a lack of international tourists these past few months.
“It’s not easy now compared to the past years because, yes, then the tourists were coming into the town to take photos. But still now with locals, we’re trying to catch up, but the pandemic came and hit us hard”
Bravo Thembinkosi Sobazile
Burgundy is a restaurant based in the oldest building in town, owned by Hermanus local, Rudolf van der Berg. The restaurant, which overlooks the bay, caters mostly for locals in May, June and December. It does, however, relies on 70% European visitors the rest of the year, according to Van der Berg.
Van der Berg says his business model is based on this 70% European influx. From September, he’s worried that the absence of this demographic could cause a problem for his business.
Another restaurateur, Anton Verhoogt, owner of the Fishermans Cottage, says that the lack of international tourists “is really a big problem, especially for a town like Hermanus that focuses on 60 to 70% of our holiday people [being] foreigners who want to see the whales”.
“Hermanus is one of the best places for land-based whale watching,” says Verhoogt.
For a region that has 105 restaurants, during December, Hermanus doesn’t have enough to cater for everyone, says Verhoogt. For the rest of the year they are all struggling due to the drop in visitors, he says.
The absence of international tourists at the beginning of this year’s whale season is a serious issue then.
Outside of town, in Hemel-en-Aarde, other business owners are also suffering from a drop in tourist numbers.
International tourists like to visit for food and wine pairings on a break from whale watching in town, says Carolyn Martin, owner of Creation Wines.
Creation Wines hadn’t seen any tourists since the second week of March, just before the national lockdown was imposed.
Martin mentions that tourists often pop in at the farm on a day visit from their stay in Hermanus, and often she recommends B&Bs to visitors looking to stay in the area. It’s “symbiotic” like that.
Creation Wines had 64 000 visitors last year, says Martin.
Besides catering for the tourists, she points out that wine farms employ many members of the surrounding community.
“We look after about 85 people. Probably every person that works here looks after maybe four people. It’s not just that. It is the suppliers … the other farmers around here. It is the small farmers it has an impact on. And so, it has a huge reach actually,” Martin says.
Will intraprovincial travel help?
Although she was not able to sell alcohol before level 1, Martin says that domestic travel saw four to five tables fill up at Creation Wines restaurant in one day.
“I think people do want to travel,” she says, reflecting a hope that many in the town hold.
“It’s not easy now compared to the past years because, yes, then the tourists were coming into the town to take photos. But still now with locals, we’re trying to catch up, but the pandemic came and hit us hard,” says Sobazile, as he walks the pavement with a few domestic tourists beginning to scan the horizon for the day’s whale watching.
Despite the drop in international tourism, Currie is excited to welcome domestic travellers back to Hermanus. She speaks about Hermanus fans messaging her night and day, asking if whales have been seen in the bay.
“We can’t go on any longer,” Nicky says.
“We’re all in this together. It’s brought communities together,” she adds.
The beginning of August may have brought a change in the winter winds though, as intraprovincial travel sees the town’s accommodation filling up to the point where people were almost turned away, according to Nicky.
With the current whale watching season underway, it remains to be seen if the local support for Hermanus will carry them through the international travel ban.