By Ruvesen Naidoo
The highly anticipated National Arts Festival (NAF) will be taking place in Makhanda from 22 June to 2 July this year. The festival, which explores both artistic and cultural offerings, is expected to bring in big groups of people, both locally and internationally.
Although Makana Tourism put out a call for homeowners to register as homestay hosts for festival goers, it seems that fans of the arts are choosing to stay with long-established formal guesthouses. Guesthouses and NAF accommodation providers shared their thoughts with Grocott’s Mail about accommodation for this year’s festival. Tony King, a Grahamstown Accommodation seller since 2016 and owner of a flat in Arnecourt Close, says “previous festivals had many accommodation agents, but now there are just two, as far as I know”. King, who had previously earned a large amount of money from providing accommodation, says only two people that have booked accommodation with him for this year’s festival.
“The festival has dwindled in size”, says King. “The big problem is that marketing is only online and everyone knows you can’t rely on that,” he adds.
Odwa Mhlebi is one of the NAF’s first-time homestay hosts. The owner of a flat in Somerset Heights, Mhlebi says she only had a few inquiries and there did not seem to be much demand.
“I think the difficulties are due to two things, one being the cost of living currently is just ridiculous, especially with the repo rate and people are probably trying to save. The second one would likely be the Makana infrastructure – water being the major problem, as well as the potholes”, she added.
On the other hand, Adriana Sandys Thomas of the Lanherne Guesthouse in West Hill says she is fully booked, as are most guesthouses. Similarly, Cheryth Roberston, owner of Guinea-Fowl Guest Stays in West Hill, tells Grocott’s Mail that she is also fully booked for the NAF.
Owen Botha at Hill Street Manor Guesthouse is also fully booked. When asked about home-based accommodation providers who don’t have bookings, Botha says “now, with issues in town such as water shortages, people aren’t that keen”.
