Cape Town’s tourism industry reports incredible recovery

Posted by Olerato Ramafsi on 16 January 2023

Cape Town has surpassed all expectations and is within short reach of achieving pre-pandemic tourism levels a lot earlier than anticipated.

What the tourism sector can learn from Cape Town's drought

The city of Cape Town

The Cape Town International Airport has also reported an incredible recovery of 72% in domestic visitors and 98% in international visitors compared to the December 2019 festive season.

Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth says ‘This impressive rebound in tourism can be attributed to the City’s Tourism Bounce Back Strategy, which we developed with partners such as Cape Town Tourism amid the pandemic and is aimed at stimulating supply and demand from specific source markets… The official figures show significant recovery and, in some cases, surpass pre-Covid-19 numbers.

Regional General Manager at Cape Town International Airport Cluster, Mark Maclean, expressed gratitude to all passengers and visitors who used the airport over the festive period. ‘It has been a good festive season at CTIA with high reliability of operations… We are pleased with the 98% recovery of international passengers compared to 2019, driven by the return of airlines and the start-up of new airlines into the airport. We also recorded good domestic passenger demand, and we look forward to airlines adding additional capacity this year.’

Cape Town Tourism Chief Executive Officer, Enver Duminy said he’s thrilled to witness such a steady influx of visitors to the region, with locals and tourists accelerating the Mother City’s recovery following the devastating impact of unfair Omicron discrimination, levelled last year at South Africa.

‘It’s remarkable to see our collective efforts to restore our beautiful city’s international and domestic visitor performance to pre-pandemic levels paying off. We’re grateful to the City of Cape Town, our Cape Town Tourism members and residents for sustaining our important sector so that our city remains the destination of choice in Africa.’

In addition to the bounce back in air traffic, Cape Town Tourism’s latest travel figures also reveal tourists’ growing appetite for the Mother City’s famed attractions, which also experienced a significant recovery. Compared to 2019 figures, Groot Constantia reported a 71% recovery, Kirstenbosch was 76%, Robben Island was 89%, Chapmans Peak was 95%, and Table Mountain was almost 100%.

Wahida Parker, Cape Town Tourism Chairperson and Managing Director of Table Mountain Aerial Cableway said it’s phenomenal that Table Mountain’s magnetism continues to draw people in from across the globe over the holidays.

Reflecting this recovery, the largest entertainment destination of its kind in South Africa, Cape Town’s GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World, reported a total footfall of 95% of its 2019 figures this festive season. The entertainment destination said its retailers’ revenues surpassed 2019 numbers as they capitalised on the increase in traffic and extended trading hours.

Cape Town Tourism’s survey of its members found that 85% said December’s performance was much better than in 2019. The respondents said the primary international source markets were the U.S.A, Germany and the United Kingdom. The primary domestic markets were Cape Town, Gauteng, and Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Vos adds that he’s thrilled that tourists can once again appreciate what the Mother City has to offer. ‘We’ve worked tirelessly to remind domestic and international visitors that Cape Town still has so much to offer. So, it’s fantastic that even more visitors got to experience our breathtaking city this festive season, from our vibrant people and world-class experiences in our region that tourists repeatedly fall in love with.’

Picture: Getaway Gallery

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