The Western Cape is gearing up for a jam-packed festive season, with just over seven million two-way passengers arriving at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) between January and November this year.
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This week, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger met with interns who will be on hand at the airport to ensure that operations run smoothly during the festive season.
“I can confirm that just over seven million two-way passengers have come through this award-winning airport between January and November this year, which includes 1.62 million international and 5.39 million domestic two-way passengers,” Wegner told IOL. “Ensuring that these passengers experience efficient service is key to keeping them coming back. This is why we are meeting with some of the 42 interns placed across the airport, including at security, immigration, check-in counters, and the apron office, and at help desks and information kiosks, to make sure that all runs smoothly and that if an operational challenge does arise, that it is resolved as quickly as possible,” she said.
Statistics compiled by the Western Cape’s destination marketing organisation indicate that domestic two-way passengers through CTIA between January and November 2022 reached 5.39 million and recovered to 71% of 2019 figures.
Between January and November 2022, international two-way passengers through CTIA reached 1.63 million, recovering to 70% against the same period in 2019.
The UK ranked as the top source market for Cape Town (via air) between January and October this year, followed by Germany, America, Netherlands and France.
The top five highest year-on-year growth rates in November 2022 were recorded for Robben Island (216%), Table Mountain National Park: Cape of Good Hope (167%), Table Mountain Cableway (146%), Table Mountain National Park: Boulders (145%) and Cango Caves (139%).
“We have come a long way from the end of the pandemic and are now at a point where we are expecting a very impressive summer season, with 191 international flights coming into Cape Town each week from the start of next year, representing a total of 1.56 million two-way seats,” Wenger added.
“We will continue to work with all our stakeholders across the tourism and hospitality sector to remove obstacles they face so that the sector can continue to grow from strength to strength, contributing to economic growth and job creation,” she said.
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