RECORD NUMBERS of holiday makers who flocked to the Eastern Cape over the December holiday season have led to a property boom in holiday homes. According to newspaper reports, property sales in popular holiday spots stretching from East London to Kei Mouth grew encouragingly during what has turned out to be one of the finest East Coast holiday seasons in many years. Nigh perfect weather and sea conditions, the promise of better roads to resorts and a boom in foreign and particularly domestic tourists have reportedly all contributed to property sales in holiday centres like Kei Mouth, Morgan Bay, Cintsa and surrounding areas. Peb Saunders from Morgan Bay Estates said property sales had definitely improved and many visitors from Johannesburg and abroad had expressed interest in buying in the area. She attributed this to the excellent holiday season the area had enjoyed as well as to the promise of a tar road from the N2 to nearby Kei Mouth. These areas can currently only be reached by a 40km dirt road. Andrew Baisley of Kei Estates said there had been a great deal of inquiries promising good future sales in Kei Mouth. "Now they just have to go home, organise their finances and come back." Particularly people from Free State and Gauteng had expressed interest. He said rentals over the holiday season had been excellent. "Everything on our books was taken." “It is an incredibly good sign that people like the province so much that they want to make sure that they can come back year after year, and that they are confident enough to put their money into the Eastern Cape,” says Eastern Cape Tourism Board marketing manager Renn Werth. The feedback from throughout the province is that it was a bumper holiday season. Wild Coast Holiday Reservations spokesperson Helen Ross said: "The season went very, very well. All 11 resorts on our books were fully booked. It was a resounding success." She said 20 625 people took up their bookings, spending R290 a person a night on average giving a rough income of R6-million on accommodation alone. She said their bookings excluded holidaymakers taking beds at nine bed and breakfast venues, 10 backpacker venues and three nature reserves. She had no reports of crime against holidaymakers, but "one or two people" were upset by the bad condition of the roads. Ann Merryweather from Cintsa Estate Agency said property sales in Cintsa had been outstanding. Developers from Johannesburg had snapped up some of the most upmarket stands. She said this was a sign of increasing confidence in the area.. "I think people are simply tired of the crowds and the high prices in the Western Cape. You get value for money here and people are buying into that." Elsie Deetlefs from Crawford Estates, also in Cintsa, agreed that property sales had been "very lively" this holiday season. She attributed this mainly to the excellent season, saying tourists had flocked to the area and many had stayed longer than intended. Outgoing Buffalo Tourism managing director Craig Nancarrow said the East London area had experienced a "very good" holiday season with an influx of visitors. "Everyone seems to have enjoyed the good conditions." He agreed that the fact that inland domestic tourists were buying holiday property in the province was a positive signal. According to a survey by Tourism Buffalo City, the local holiday season lasted longer than in previous years with most accommodation establishments turning over their rooms about three times between December 9 and January 9. According to research co-ordinator Jean-Pierre van der Westhuizen, there was a two per cent increase in people staying in hotels. Visitors from elsewhere in the Eastern Cape showed an increase of five per cent. The Western Cape accounted for 13 per cent of respondents, compared with 10 per cent in 2000/01 and KwaZulu-Natal visitors also showed an increase of one per cent to 10percent. Free State visitors accounted for 13percent of respondents –up from 11 per cent in the previous season. Thirty five per cent of visitors stayed between four days and a week compared to 2000/01's 30 per cent. No matter how long people stayed or the fault they found with the city, all said they would return again, the survey showed. In the northern parts of the province, the bed-and-breakfast and guest house industries have shown steady growth between 1998 and last year. There is hope for an ever-increasing tourist interest in the entire region during 2002, says Eastern Cape Tourism Board northern region regional manager Robert Little. The hot spa resort of Aliwal North and the town of Lady Grey both reported a shortage of accommodation for visitors over the festive period. Little said plans for the region during 2002 included focusing on growth in the backpackers market, for which the northern region was well-suited. Little said the foreign hunting industry, which generated more than R82million in foreign currency for the province between October 2000 and November 2001, was obviously popular. "From the number of farmers that now carry game, for both sight seeing and hunting, it is obviously having a large impact on tourism as an attraction, particularly given the malaria-free status that we fortunately enjoy.” Tourism numbers were also up in the western half of the province. Port Elizabeth had a bumper holiday season with an estimated 90 000 tourists spending about R70-million on accommodation, meals, purchase of souvenirs and curios. Tourism PE acting chief executive officer Keith Wattrus says provisional estimates show that 30 000 visitors stayed in established accommodation facilities and about 60 000 boarded with friends or relatives. Wattrus says it is estimated that those who stayed in hotels spent three nights per visit on average. This converts into about 90 000 bed nights sold during December. The value is about R30-million. “The success of the season was because it was relatively crime- free. There were very few incidents. We had many events, a huge array of not just entertainment, but quality events, mostly musical. We also had very good weather and there is this sense now around the country that PE and its surrounding area is starting to be seen now as the in place for holidaymakers. The profile of visitors we are drawing is the younger people,” Wattrus said the city was now seen internationally as a “safe destination with an all-round good climate”. The city’s premier tourist attraction The Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World, attracted over 704 000 visitors during December, according to automatic counters installed at the entrances. This compares with around 240 000 during the quietest month of the year and an average of around 400 000. The complex became the entertainment hub for both visitors and locals during the season, said Boardwalk marketing manager Shaun van Eck. The Day of Goodwill, December 26, was the busiest in the complex with the casino doors having to be closed due to the crowds inside. More than 36 000 people were counted in the complex on the day.