THE ENTIRE Eastern Cape looks set for a bumper summer holiday season, reports the East London Daily Dispatch newspaper. This comes on top of a record year for the professional hunting industry. Buffalo Tourism MD Craig Nancarrow says more people are coming to the Eastern Cape on holiday. "The normal busy period of December 16 to the first week in January has now been extended from December 6 to about the third week in January." This was echoed by Nita Ross of Wild Coast Holiday Reservations which takes bookings for resorts in the East London area and along the coast. "This season seems to be starting earlier and ending later than in the past,” he told the Dispatch. Ross said most of the Wild Coast resorts were looking forward to a longer and busier season than last year. The head of Port Alfred Tourism, Bev Young, said: "The season for us starts around December 11 and generally it ends in the first week of January but most of the accommodation establishments say they are full up to the middle of January. Tourism boards in the western region from Mossel Bay to Port Elizabeth have had positive responses on the tourist numbers for the upcoming festive period. Bookings in Mossel Bay are up on last year, said Lusinda Nortje, an information consultant at the town's tourism board. She said significantly more bookings had been received from American tourists. Jeffrey's Bay is yet again set to function at full capacity with bookings again approaching the hilt, as it was last year. Tourism officer Lindie Strydom said bookings for guest house and self-catering resorts had been received earlier than last year. Plettenberg Bay is operating close to full capacity, said tourism bureau manager Leanne le Roux. One of the beneficiaries of the growth in tourism will be the province’s developing arts and crafts industry. Eastern Cape Development Initiative chairperson Nomaci Qabaka says her organisation has entered into a partnership with Hemingways Casino outside East London to open the Zenzele craft market. The market will serve as a platform to expose crafters to the business world. A group of 18 formal and 15 informal stalls have been established at the casino. A craft market has also been established at The Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World in Port Elizabeth. More news on the tourism front is that the Eastern Cape professional hunting industry is reported to have grown by 10 per cent during 2001. It generated more than R82million in foreign currency. The provincial co-ordinator of professional hunting, Mike Fryer, of the Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism Department, says hunting in the Eastern Cape brought in R82,3m – 10.5 per cent more than in the 2000. The direct gain comprised the costs of actual hunts and rates paid by hunting and non-hunting clients between last October and November this year. The business sector, provincially and nationally, brought in a further R36-million. This includes R16-million spent with South African Airways for internal and international flights, R1.5-million on car hire, R1.5-million on hotel accommodation, R8.9-million on taxidermy, gratuity of R4.3-million, R906 309 on tourism and fishing, R1.9-million on curios and shopping and R804 948 on venison. The two sub-totals meant an income of R118,3m to South Africa. The Eastern Cape, which has been the leading province in the professional hunting industry for the past few years, hosted 1183 foreign hunters, who hunted 8943 animals during a stay of 10943 days. Most overseas clients were from the US (804), followed by Spain (102), Norway (50) and Germany (41). Popular species hunted were common blesbok (747), southern impala (767), East Cape kudu (802) and common springbok (1028). There were 229 registered active professional hunters operating in the province, of whom 187 were based in the Eastern Cape.