Oyster Festival aims to beat R77m target

It is no secret that the 19th Knysna Oyster Festival has been growing since it’s inception. In 1995 SFW took over the sponsorship and are still with the festival albeit in a different structure after they merged with Distillers.
“Last year the festival generated in the region of R77 million for Knysna and the surrounding areas”, reported Michael Bertram, CEO of Knysna Tourism. “This year Grant Thornten, Kessel Feinstein (GTKF) are doing a detailed survey of what the festival injects into the economy of the town. The methodology we used to calculate the R77 million was based along the lines of what Pic n’ Pay use in calculating the economic benefit the Argus Cycle Tour injects into Cape Town.
We calculate the number of people who book for the run and cycle. From the addresses on the entry forms we know that 80% of the people come from outside the Southern Cape. Using the Argus Cycle Tours analysis methodology we calculate that 40% of visitors stay at hotels, 30% at relatives, friends and family with the remainder staying at guest houses, B&B’s and rented holiday accommodation. A brief understanding of the spend of these visitors provides the last part of the calculation – each participant spends about R920 per day in the area. It will be interesting to compare these calculations to the detailed survey that will be carried out by GTKF”.
Billy Martin, Graca’s brand manager expressed Distell’s excitement at being an integral part of growing the festival to gaining national status. “Over the years we have given the festival the necessary muscle and financial input needed to take it beyond being a small town affair. We have leveraged the event nationally and in turn been able to use the event to communicate Graca’s message to a broader market. The festival is all about eating, sharing and having fun which is exactly what Graca is about. To play a huge part in adding substantially towards a towns economy during traditional downtimes is a bonus for Distell, Knysna and the people from all over the country who come to the event to talk, eat, sing and share”.