If recent enquiries – and the visit by a group of travel agents from India - are anything to go by, tourism to Mossel Bay is set to increase over the next few months.  "At the Beeld Holiday show, we had a lot more enquiries than usual from South Africans who said they normally go overseas or to the Indian Ocean islands for their holidays," said Fred Orban, a member of the board of Mossel Bay Tourism.

Mr Orban attended the show to promote the Oystercatcher Trail, the Hunter-Gatherer Trail, and Sandpiper Cottages.

"I’ve also personally just come back from Dubai, and tourism is picking up there, too, which is an indicator that we’re likely to start seeing more long-haul tourists.

"South Africa tends to follow the trend in the Middle East – but there are other indicators for Mossel Bay, too: members of TAFI – the Travel Agents Federation of India - have shown an interest in the town, and we’ve already seeing a growing number of visitors from Sweden, Denmark, and other European countries which haven’t been our traditional source markets.
"So it looks like long-haul travel is improving, too."