The City of Cape Town (COCT) said on Monday that the festive season saw a positive spike in local tourism. The most recent passenger arrival figures from Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) painted a positive picture, the City added.
According to the COCT, these huge numbers were largely driven by domestic travellers of whom 733 207 made their way to the Mother City.
Also read: Hope for Cape Town tourism with a 58% recovery in-flight passengers
The COCT says that in the last two weeks of December, the average number of daily passengers at CTIA increased to 20 339 and flight movements rose to 184 per day.
Though the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth James Vos indicated that the figures would have been much higher had international governments not slapped travel restrictions on South Africa, we’re celebrating all the small victories this year. Capetonians stepped it up for Cape Town!
Part of the positive results is related to people visiting the Mother City’s famed attractions when compared to 2019, including; Cape Point at 33%, Chapman’s Peak Drive at 77%, Groot Constantia at 60%, Kirstenbosch at 49%, Robben Island at 46%, Table Mountain at 57% and Two Oceans Aquarium at 76%.
The V&A Waterfront reported a year-on-year % increase of 31% and attributed it to increased footfall and eased restrictions. They also reported a strong influx of domestic travellers that helped drive the improved figures.
Cape Town Tourism reported that it was a strong performance for the city all-round. A survey of its members found 57% indicated that their December 2021 performance was better than December 2020. 64% reported an increase in domestic visitors. 18% reported an increase in visitors from the UK, 25% saw an increase in visitors from the USA, and 25% from Germany.
The December success contributed R800 million towards the City of Cape Town’s economy.
“In December, tourism contributed R800m to the metro’s economy and R5.8 billion in all of 2021. The domestic campaign resulted in bookings valued at just over R40m.
“Every air traveller that lands in Cape Town helps to support our economy and create more jobs. In 2019, the airport alone helped funnel just under R14bn into Cape Town,” says Vos.
However, the emergence of Omicron resulted in the slowing down of progress. The percentage of people who planned to travel before Omicron decreased after its resurgence.
These figures go to show that as a community, we can play our part when it comes to saving the Mother City’s tourism industry. Continue to #supportlocal!
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Picture: Unsplash
