Cape Town: The Events Permit Office of the City of Cape Town processed 1,540 event permit applications during the 2025–26 financial year. The period generated strong spectator attendance along with significant job creation and economic activity.
Recently, the Events Permit Office received 1,540 event applications and approved 983 event permits. These applications included several major international events that featured the Springboks, Bafana Bafana, the Proteas Women and the Springbok Women.
Earlier, these events attracted around 4.1 million spectators and participants. They also demonstrated the scale and impact of Cape Town’s events industry.
Some permit applications were declined due to non-compliance while others were deemed not to require a permit. The approved events ranged from major international sporting fixtures and large-scale festivals to community, cultural and lifestyle gatherings.
These events generated significant economic activity while creating jobs, attracting visitors and showcasing Cape Town to a global audience. While reviewing the applications, 30 top events found that they contributed over R5 billion to the local economy. Six flagship events were accounted for approximately R4.5 billion in economic impact, as per the data.
Considerably, the City of Cape Town supported events and continued to create employment opportunities. An assessment of 20 events found that they generated over 31,000 temporary and permanent jobs. It also highlighted the important role that the events sector plays in supporting livelihoods and driving economic growth.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith stated that the Cape Town continues to prove that it is one of the world’s premier events destinations. Every event hosted in the city creates opportunities for local businesses, supports jobs, attracts visitors and showcases everything that makes Cape Town a world-class destination.
The Events Permit Office of the City of Cape Town works throughout the year to regulate event safety in the city, by coordinating with sister departments and external stakeholders to ensure that events take place in the most secure environment. The Events Department as a whole works to facilitate, support and enable a diverse calendar of events that includes community festivals, nationally and internationally recognised sporting spectacles and major entertainment events.
These figures show that the investment in creating an enabling environment for events continues to deliver meaningful economic and social returns for Cape Town and its residents.
The 2025-26 financial year featured several standouts across the sporting, entertainment and cultural sectors, such as:
- The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon securing Abbott World Marathon Major status
- A capacity crowd for the Springboks versus Australia Test at DHL Stadium
- A sold-out International Friendly between Bafana Bafana and Panama
- The sold-out Betway SA20 Final at Newlands Cricket Ground
- Back-to-back HSBC SVNS Cape Town titles for the Blitzboks
- The return of Red Bull Flugtag to Cape Town
- DHL Stadium welcoming a combined 235 880 spectators for DHL Stormers home matches, recording the second-highest attendance in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship
- More than 100 000 people attending the City’s annual Festive Lights Switch-On
- International fixtures including the Proteas Women versus Ireland and Springbok Women versus Black Ferns XV
- The FIM World Supercross Championship season finale
- The inaugural Speed Classic Cape Town
- The Heineken F1 World Tour
- A sold-out Comic Con Cape Town
- The inaugural EFC’s Knox Legacy Series
- FIH Hockey Nations Cup at Hartleyvale Stadium
Notably, the momentum continued into the 2026-27 financial year also, as the Cape Town is set to host the highly anticipated Springboks vs All Blacks match in the Greatest Rugby Rivalry at DHL Stadium. Along with this, the Proteas Women took on India in T20 action, including the traditional New Year’s Test between the Proteas and England at Newlands Cricket Ground, and the upcoming inaugural Nelson Mandela Marathon in October 2026.