The Western Cape tourism agency, Cape Town Routes Unlimited, reported that December got off to a slow start, with hotel occupancy rates hovering at 50% and some major tourist destinations - including Table Mountain National Park's Cape of Good Hope - reporting an 11.5% decline in visitors compared with December 2009. The V&A Waterfront mall recorded more than 2.7million visitors for December, which equates to a 0.5% decrease on the year before.

Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan said preliminary statistics from major tourist attractions confirmed the prediction that the summer season - November to March - would be only slightly better than the last one. "Although we were off to a slow start to the holiday season, the second half of December was great, with people flocking to the beaches and resorts," said Gilfellan. Because of low occupancy rates at hotels, many establishments were forced to slash prices to attract business. "I would say [hotel occupancy] went up to 65% to 70% as domestic travellers took advantage of the special offers," he said.

Airports Company South Africa reported that 74240 international visitors flew to Cape Town - a 4.2% decrease. This could largely be attributed to flight delays in Europe and the fact that international tourists had opted to visit South Africa during the World Cup instead of in the summer season.

But the number of regional and domestic visitors increased by 3.9% and 5.3% respectively. Nicki Linde from the five-star Cape Grace hotel would not divulge occupancy figures, but said it had a similar number to in December the year before.

"In general there is a decline in occupancies in the luxury hotel sector, but this can be attributed to a number of factors, including increased competition, the weaker dollar, pound and euro as well as the economic recession, which has hit South Africa's key tourism markets [UK, US and Germany] quite hard," she said. "That said, we are receiving inquiries and our expectations are being exceeded for the earlier part of 2011," Linde said.

Roy Davies, chairman of the Cape hotels segment of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, said feedback from hotels had been mixed. "For the established hotels, it seems that . the rate was definitely down. For long stays, the snow had minimal impact, some short stays did cancel," he said.

"For the top end of the market, the first quarter is looking healthy, especially February, while the next level down is seeing poorer forecasts compared with the same time last year."But Gilfellan is optimistic: "I reckon we will record a 3% to 5% overall increase for December 2010."