The Western Cape is enjoying a bumper summer season with the number of international passengers passing through Cape Town International Airport from eight of its top 10 source countries exceeding pre-Covid levels.
The airport handled more than 280,000 international two-way passengers in January — 97% of the volume achieved in the same month in 2019, according to Airports Company SA figures.
Eight source markets have more than fully recovered. These include the UK (up 106% on January 2019), Germany (up 112%), the US (up 168%), the Netherlands (up 124%), Canada (up 108%), Italy (up 115%), Belgium (up 106%) and Zimbabwe (up 131%).
The number of visitors from France has not yet fully rebounded (a 76% recovery) and those from Switzerland show just an 84% recovery. Even so, the European market has clearly fallen in love again with the city, with seven out of Cape Town’s top 10 source markets originating from that continent.
In January, most visitors to Cape Town via air came from the UK, followed closely by Germany, the US, the Netherlands and France.
For 2022 as a whole, the Western Cape was South Africa’s top performing province with respect to overseas visitors, recording the highest number of tourist arrivals (697,132), the highest total foreign direct spend (R14.4bn) and the most total bed nights (9.7-million), according to a report by Wesgro, the province’s growth and promotion agency.
Some of the bounce-back is being attributed to new flights to Cape Town.
The Cape Town air access team, driven by Wesgro, has secured four new air routes and three new airlines to the Western Cape, which it estimates will have brought in about R430m in direct tourism spend between November 2022 and March 2023.
That arrivals from the US are up the most on pre-Covid levels at 168% seems to be linked to the launch last year of United Airlines’ year-round, nonstop service three times a week between Washington, DC and Cape Town. The airline has also expanded its year-round, nonstop service between New York and Cape Town.
In addition, Delta Air Lines began to fly a new triangular route between Cape Town, Joburg and Atlanta four times a week in December.
Stellenbosch University economics professor Johan Fourie expects the rebound in Western Cape tourism to benefit local entrepreneurs and stimulate job creation.
According to Fourie, a rule of thumb is that for every seven tourists that arrive, one job is created. Some economic studies have also shown that new, direct air connections increase business links and foster the movement of capital from high-income to middle-income countries.
He has “no doubt” that the new links between Cape Town and Washington, New York, and Atlanta will lead to substantial foreign direct investment in South Africa, with Cape Town as the main beneficiary.
Western Cape hotels are not complaining, with occupancy rates having recovered in December 2022 to 106% of the December 2019 figure and the average hotel daily rate topping R2,300 — 14% higher than in December 2019.
The relatively high cost of hotel accommodation may explain why the province is faring less well in attracting domestic tourists.
According to Wesgro, the Western Cape recorded 3.4-million domestic tourism trips in 2022 — an increase of 290% year on year but still only 78% of the number recorded in 2019.
This helps explain why the total foot count at the province’s main attractions in January (672,504 visitors) was still only 83% of what it was in January 2019.
The province is lagging behind the buoyant recovery of domestic tourism that was evident in all other provinces. Last year, four exceeded their 2019 levels, including the Eastern Cape (where domestic trips were up 275%), KwaZulu-Natal (up 122%), Limpopo (up 151%) and Mpumalanga (up 113%).
For South Africa as a whole, the number of domestic trips was up 141% last year compared with 2021, despite the cost of living crisis, and was almost 18% higher than in 2019.
Wesgro believes the province is well positioned to enjoy further tourism growth over the coming year, noting that 75 cruise ships will have docked in Cape Town between November 2022 and May 2023 — the highest number ever.
The province has also secured 29 major conferences, which will attract about 20,000 delegates. This will have an estimated economic impact of up to R393.4m between now and 2024/2025.
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