Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) witnessed a record-breaking influx of international passengers in December, with 317 000 travellers passing through its gates.
As per Engineering News, this surpassed the previous record of 290 000 set in January 2020.
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According to Cape Town Air Access (CTAA), this surge in tourism contributed nearly R1.9 billion in direct spending, bolstering the Western Cape’s economy and preserving jobs.
The annual tally for two-way international passengers in 2023 reached 2.8 million, eclipsing the 2.6 million record of 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This figure represents a near doubling from the 1.5 million passengers in 2013, indicating a 100% increase over a decade.
Wesgro CEO and CTAA spokesperson, Wrenelle Stander, expressed delight at the significant passenger growth, attributing it to the joint efforts of CTAA and the management of the airport by Airport Company South Africa’s Cape Town team.
‘We are thrilled to witness such a remarkable increase in passenger numbers at [CTIA],’ she said.
She added, ‘This achievement reflects the ongoing efforts of the [CTAA] partnership to enhance the Western Cape’s global connectivity, elevated by the continuing excellence of ACSA’s [Airport Company South Africa’s] Cape Town team in running a world-class airport.’
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CTAA, a collaboration between public entities and private sector partners led by Wesgro, aims to enhance the Western Cape’s global connectivity. This initiative includes contributions from national government agencies like ACSA and the City of Cape Town.
Mireille Wenger, the provincial finance and economic opportunities minister, underscored the importance of CTAA’s work in attracting flights to the region and noted the positive correlation between increased tourist numbers and job creation.
‘The record-breaking number of passengers and resultant foreign direct spending will ultimately increase economic opportunities and jobs for the people of the province. We welcome this news with open arms because more tourists mean more jobs,’ she commented.
Mark Maclean, ACSA’s regional general manager for the Cape Town International Airport Cluster, acknowledged the impact of passenger growth on tourism, trade and the economy.
Maclean expressed gratitude to visitors for their support and looked forward to managing the remaining peak-season traffic.
‘I thank all passengers and visitors for their cooperation and support when visiting the airport. We will now focus on the coming weeks as passengers return home and for the remainder of the peak season. We are forecasting continued high passenger volumes as our visitors enjoy the summer.’
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Picture: Petri Oeschger / Getty Images