June's Fifa Confederations Cup and British and Irish Lions rugby tour gave South African hotels a welcome break from months of declines resulting from the global economic downturn, auditing firm Deloitte said on Tuesday.
Revenue per available room (revPAR) was up 5.8 percent countrywide during June as hoteliers benefited from the sport-related increase in tourism.
Due to the economic downturn, however, some tourists were being deterred by the strength of the rand against source market currencies, the company's Moray Wilson said in a statement.
"There is no doubt that the South African tourism industry continues to be challenged by the global economic downturn," Wilson said. Data compiled by market forecaster STR Global showed that revPAR was down 7.2 percent year-to-June 2009, "and if this trend continues, 2009 could be the first year in 10 years that revPAR has experienced negative growth."
Wilson said June's sporting events gave the hotel industry a welcome break from declines, and also provided South Africa with a practice run before the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
"The country is no stranger to hosting sporting events, but the World Cup will certainly be the biggest we have held.
"During the event, the country is aiming to welcome approximately 450 000 visitors, and will certainly set up the framework for a very prosperous 2010 for the tourism industry."
Major cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg benefited the most from the recent football and rugby events. RevPAR in Cape Town jumped 14.2 percent, breaking five consecutive months of decline, despite only hosting two rugby matches.
The jump was mostly due to a 10.6 percent increase in average room rates to R880, but occupancy also went up by 3.3 percent to 51.1 percent, ending a 12-month cycle of occupancy decline.
Johannesburg also benefited from hosting one rugby and five football matches in June, with revPAR up 9.9 percent to R832 – the strongest revPAR this year and ending a six-month run of declines.
Wilson said a 20.6 percent jump in average room rates was solely responsible for this increase, while occupancy continued to decline 8.9 percent.
On the flip-side, despite hosting matches, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria did not fare as well, all experiencing revPAR declines.
