THE City and Cape Town Tourism are courting several major European organisations to attract travel and trade to the Mother City as tourism statistics shows that the sector is a recovering.
Mayco member for economic opportunities, James Vos, and chief executive of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy, met with global travel trade and government officials from several major European organisations to attract tourists and business.
The two signed a partnership agreement with Visit Berlin, the destination marketing organisation for the German capital.
Germany was also the first international market to open its borders for travel to and from South Africa without a quarantine restriction in August.
The partnership will see the two organisations market their respective cities to their audiences.
“Cape Town’s visitor economy is a pillar of the city’s wider economic landscape.
“Prior to Covid, the sector contributed between 2% and 3.5% annually to the local economy and sustained up to 5% of jobs, not to mention those working in affiliate industries – we must do all we can to drive tourism to the city,” said Vos.
This comes as the tourism sector in South Africa has recovered its losses over the past two years, recording 2.7 million foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of the year.
Tourism authorities said the figure translated to a 170% increase when compared to the same period in 2021 and close to 40% in 2019.
The latest data by Statistics SA showed that the top source tourist markets via air travel to Cape Town were the UK, followed by Germany, USA, Netherlands, and France.
The data showed UK grew from just more than 1 000 in the first quarter in 2021 to 30 622 and recovered to just over half of what it was over the same period in 2019.
Tourist arrivals from Germany stood at 28 414 and the USA at 12 173.
The Netherlands with 10 998 tourist arrivals recovered by two thirds and France by 29% in the same period.
Cape Town Tourism said a recovery rate of 74% for international arrivals and 76% for domestic arrivals was also reported in April compared to April 2019.
MEC of Finance and Economic Opportunities Mireille Wenger welcomed the results.
“It is very encouraging to see that the Western Cape and Cape Town remain a global tourism favourite and major contributor to SA tourism.
“April’s tourism performance statistics point to a solid recovery for our tourism and hospitality sector over the Easter season,” said Wenger .
She also highlighted how hotel occupancy rates showed significant recovery with some key attractions recording rates of 100%.
“It is our job to ensure that this continues, by improving air connectivity to Cape Town, marketing our destination both at home and abroad, and by removing barriers of the growth of this important sector,” he said.
After the pandemic, several air routes with direct flights to Cape Town were restored including Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya and Rwanda.
Wenger said efforts were also being made to boost trade and investment in other African countries including Uganda, Cameroon, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Nigeria.
Wesgro, the province’s trade, investment and tourism promotion partner, said the positive tourism recovery and the easing of global travel restrictions, a better winter tourism season could also be expected.
“The issue of stereotypical seasonality has also shifted somewhat, and this has to do with off-peak seasons being more affordable.
“Cape Town and the Western Cape is so diverse in its offering across the six regions, that not every traveller wants to experience our summer season,” said Wesgro.
The organisation also said the winelands, the Overberg, and the whale season were attracting tourists.
“There seems to be pent-up demand after two years of travel restrictions which has given rise to revenge travel.
“The idea of space, nature, mountains, oceans and all-round experiential travel, has caused a big demand for Cape Town and the Western Cape,” said Wesgro.