[morbicer]

Now I've read the section about airbnb. I am sorry to be part of the problem but for someone from the other side of the world it's really hard to book with sth else.

You should work with town council to regulate & tax airbns, imho they should stay but you should extract some value back to municipality and local people.

[morog]

That's fantastic you visited Greyton! no worries about AirBnb, everyone uses it - not just international visitors. We used to rent a room on Airbnbn (maybe you stayed with us even - near the mountain :) and we've certainly travelled plenty using it.

Greyton is definitely a hidden gem, for some reason it's not on many travel itineraries with most people doing a long one day drive from Cape Town to the Garden Route - but its without doubt the best village in the Cape, decent facilities & restaurants, fast Internet, lots of English speakers (if thats all you know!)

I don't know what the solution is wrt Airbnb, for someone planning a trip around a foreign country it offers some element of security and a lot of convenience...everything gets booked in one place. But for many small towns a tourist info office is more than just a place to pick up a map and its a social / emergency / Internet connection hub of many towns. Taking away the accommodation booking commission means that they can't operate or just get replaced by a sign board and some flyers that you can pickup at any petrol station anyway.

Greyton is fortunate in that there are lots of events, festivals, marathons & MTB races to sell tickets for and keep the office open, and it's close enough to Cape Town to get the short stays.

Next time you come, book your stay on GreytonTourism.com - insider tip, there are some unlisted, exceptional properties that can be booked...just send Ros an email on bookings at greytontourism dot com!