St Francis new holiday magnet

Small town has become major hotspot for visitors, beating even Jeffreys Bay

St Francis Bay has become a major hotspot for holidaymakers, with Kouga mayor Elza van Lingen saying the small town even surpassed Jeffreys Bay in popularity this summer season.

As the Kouga municipality welcomed hundreds of visitors for the season, the main holiday towns were packed to capacity on Christmas and New Year’s days.

“In Jeffreys Bay, tourism-registered accommodation has been fully booked since November, while at St Francis most accommodation has been full and many visitors have chosen to stay longer in January than usual,” Van Lingen said.

“Preliminary reports from businesses suggest that holiday makers at St Francis Bay were more willing to spend money on shopping, dining out and leisure activities like canal cruises than those at Jeffreys Bay, where holiday-makers tended to opt for free activities,” she said.

As the holiday season starting winding down, the Kouga municipality introduced punitive water restrictions on Sunday following an instruction from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Since the metro is under punitive water restrictions, Kouga is also affected as it gets its water from the Bay.

The Kouga council decided last month to postpone imposing punitive water restrictions, and only started this week.

It said it was impossible to reduce water use at the peak of the summer season.

Van Lingen said the municipality had not had any issues with water supply during the holidays, but residents were now expected to save water.

“Despite the influx of holiday makers, Kouga experienced very few service hiccups thanks to extensive preparations in the run-up to the season,” she said.

“The biggest challenge was pipe breaks, but all breaks were attended to promptly.”

She thanked residents for saving water during the festive season.

“Reservoir levels remained stable and there was no need for water to be delivered by trucks to any areas.

“While the worst of the holiday demand is now over, the biggest challenge still lies ahead of us.

“Kouga needs to decrease its water consumption by 15% over the next three months, as mandated by the metro.”

If the municipality did not cut back water use by 15%, even steeper tariffs would have to be introduced, she said.