Cape tourism trend looking hot for summer!

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Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde is upbeat for the province’s tourism businesses about the coming summer season

The Minister said that international arrivals at Cape Town International increased by 10000 passengers between October 2014 and October 2015. In the last four months arrivals increased by 11% compared to the same period in 2014.

Minister Winde said: ‘Last year international and domestic arrivals to the province were at a three-year high. Establishments across the province welcomed a record number of visitors. I have been told by a number of tourism establishments that they are nearly fully booked for the season. We know that for every 12 tourists who visit us, one job is created in South Africa. In the Western Cape the tourism sector currently employs 204 000 people and Project Khulisa has the goal of adding up to a further 100 000 jobs to the sector in the next five years. The anticipated increase in arrivals may be great news for job creation in our tourist sector; tourism delivers a significant employment boost for entry-level jobs. We have a great service ethos in South Africa and are known globally for service excellence. This is a major drawcard, particularly for repeat visitors‘. Minister Winde expects passenger growth to come from traditional source markets (UK, USA, some European countries), which are not so severely affected by the stricter visa regulations introduced last year.

Currently the Western Cape welcomes 1,5 million international visitors, and the Minister hopes to grow this to 2 million. The Minister and Premier Helen Zille have just returned from a visit to China, and the Minister is upbeat about tourism growth from China. ‘Between 2009 and 2012, the number of arrivals from China to the Western Cape increased by 154%. Following the introduction of the new visa laws, the number of Chinese tourists decreased by 45%’, he added. The Minister expects the slackening of the visa regulations to reverse the decline: ‘There will be additional visa facilitation centres, the option to allow accredited tour operators to lodge visa applications, biometrics on arrival and ten-year business visas for Chinese travellers. We urge the national government to move swiftly in ensuring these concessions are implemented, and communicated to our embassies’.

Deidre Davids, Communications Manager of Cape Town International Airport, said that October typically is the start of the local summer season, with international airlines such as Condor, Edelweiss, Air France, and Lufthansa returning to Cape Town. She said: ‘During the peak season we also see airlines both on the International and the Domestic front ramp up their frequencies. We anticipate November to show good growth as well as the remaining upcoming months in line with positive growth which we saw during the winter season. The estimated peak season growth between September 2015 and March 2016 is anticipated at 3% compared to the previous year‘.

July

ROUTES	PASSENGER NUMBERS	PERCENTAGE INCREASE
International Arrivals	53 115	17.58 %
Regional Arrivals	7 356	15.46 %
Domestic Arrivals	328 177	9.68%

August

ROUTES	PASSENGER NUMBERS	PERCENTAGE INCREASE
International Arrivals	45 388	5.95 %
Regional Arrivals	7 155	8.9 %
Domestic Arrivals	313 674	10.28%

September

ROUTES	PASSENGER NUMBERS	PERCENTAGE INCREASE
International Arrivals	49 848	8.98%
Regional Arrivals	6 816	10.22 %
Domestic Arrivals	323 275	11.62%

October

ROUTES	PASSENGER NUMBERS	PERCENTAGE INCREASE
International Arrivals	69 603	17.6 %
Regional Arrivals	8 025	8.04 %
Domestic Arrivals	356 328	9 %

The progress in implementing the latest visa regulations is frustratingly low, and Minister Malusi Gigaba has reacted to such criticism by stating that his Department of Home Affairs was given three months for the implementation thereof! Poor publicity for our country was the cancellation of the visit by British actor Idris Elba to our country, to promote his newest Mandela movie, as his daughter did not have the correct paperwork. Elba played the lead role in ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom‘.

Source: Media release from Minister Alan Winde’s office.