This is Part Two of a special focus on Knysna and surrounds. See Part One here and Part Three here.

The Knysna Waterfront is quiet; many shops are open, but there are few shoppers entering and leaving these stores with bags. Most workers are standing outside, talking to one another. Tucked in a corner of the Waterfront is Tessa Conte, the manager of African Attitude, a curio shop that sells beadwork and artefacts. 

When Daily Maverick visited the area early in November, Conte sat in the shop, waiting for customers. “Devastating,” she said when asked about the impact of the Covid-19 closures while speaking through a plexiglass shield in front of the counter. The shop has been around since the Waterfront opened in 2000, and it relies mainly on tourists as a source of revenue. 

African Attitude, a curio shop in the Knysna Waterfront has seen a massive slump in revenue due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Its main revenue source, international tourists, have been unable to visit South Africa. (Photo: Suné Payne)

She said that November was traditionally the busiest month in terms of revenue, but in terms of “feet’ into the shop, it was December. “We can make 100 sales a day, in busy times, so at the moment, we’re lucky if we’re seeing 15-20 people in the shop a day. Obviously, not all are buying.” 

The shop sources some products from local vendors and Conte says due to a lack of sales, they cannot order new stock from suppliers. “It’s had a huge knock-on effect, hectically, because we haven’t been ordering from our suppliers, so they’re also struggling – especially the sort of one-man bands, the ladies who do the beadwork, the Zulu ladies who do the telephone wire work – they’re also without work now”. 

Conte told Daily Maverick there have been layoffs – one worker has not returned after being temporarily laid off and the rest of the staff are now on half-day shifts. “Everybody is very stressed – financially, it has been a huge loss for a lot of people, morale is low because everyone is struggling,” she said. “We’re just praying for better days. It’s just soul-destroying and disheartening when you sit here and nothing happens for the entire day.” Conte said they are hoping to see a return of the local market during the holiday season, “but we definitely depend on international travellers”. 

The empty Knysna Waterfront on 1 November. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, many shops that usually see tourists as a main revenue source, are empty and waiting for business to kick off in the summer season. (Photo: Suné Payne)

From devastating fires to Covid-19 lockdown

In Knysna, tourism-related industries contributed 18% in 2017 to the area’s GDP, according to the Socio-Economic Profile, a report done by the Western Cape government. Additionally, tourism and related industries contributed 7,036 jobs to Knysna’s total number of jobs – it’s the biggest sector in the area. 

Elmay Bouwer, chairperson of the Greater Knysna Business Chamber, told Daily Maverick that the town had endured devastating fires in 2017, with many businesses closing for long periods. Then came the water restrictions. They had just started to recover when Covid-19 hit in 2020.

“Honestly, this town has been hit by disaster more than anyone else,” she said.

Bouwer said hospitality businesses book trips up to two years in advance and by the time Covid-19 arrived, these types of businesses had already begun to make bookings for 2022. “We don’t even have 2021 on our books, we’re going to write it off as a loss on an international market”. Bouwer, who owns a lodge in the area, said she has had to lay off eight of her 50 staff members due to the cash crunch caused by Covid-19.

Road to recovery

At the Visit Knysna offices, Daily Maverick sat down with Bouwer along with the general manager of Visit Knysna Colleen Durant and Knysna municipality’s acting manager for economic development Fumanekile Makuyekwe to speak about the town’s economy, the impact of Covid-19 and economic recovery. 

Makuyekwe said the municipality is working on supporting businesses throughout the Covid-19. Recovery plans include spaza shop programmes, which will assist South African-owned spaza shops in townships, working with financial institutions to provide assistance of up to R30,000 to SMMEs. Makuyekwe said the municipality is looking to help industries such as boating, which exported 90% of its stock. Another industry the municipality was looking to help was the construction industry, which could not operate under Levels 4 and 5 of the national lockdowns. 

Durant spoke extensively on the travel regulations which left many in confusion due to which countries were on the “high risk” travel list when lockdown restrictions were eased. On the other hand, Durant said that “since domestic travel opened, we’ve certainly seen an improvement and now this last weekend has been great – you can feel the difference with the schools being on holiday”. 

In the meantime, Visit Knysna is working on campaigns to promote tourism for a domestic market. Durant denies claims that Knysna is more expensive, saying “it’s always been that perception”. 

“Really, it’s no more pricey than anywhere else in the country.” 

Besides tourism, they told Daily Maverick that Knysna had plenty of open natural spaces, a booming property market and reasonable connectivity, which could attract city dwellers to the area. Bouwer said there had been a strengthening of the property market, particularly in the R1.5-million to R3-million sector. “One of the reasons they say is that people want to get out of the bigger cities, but also the crime that is busy escalating,” said Bouwer. “You can work here now — I mean I live in the bush and there is good WiFi.”  

Closing off, Durant said that “for as long as things remain as is, tourism will remain challenged”. 

The Greater Knysna Business Chamber released a survey of businesses in the area about the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on business. At the time of the survey in May, 251 of 313 businesses said they had not traded during April when South Africa was under Level 5 lockdown. In the survey, 221 respondents said they had been forced to consider retrenchments at their business. 

Bouwer said the recovery will take time and things “won’t come back to the same levels for a long time until a vaccine is actually out”, but stressed that municipalities, provinces, businesses and even the media should work together to assist with recovery efforts in spreading the word that the province and businesses are open. 

Makuyekwe said the municipality is working on technical assessments for an investment project which would create the space for economic recovery, which should be finalised in the next few weeks. DM