South Africa: The Western Cape has continued to attract the tourists and become the popular destination with the arrival of tourists to Cape Town by air increasing the number by 16%. The count has increased year on year between January and March of 2024 and has reached 336,268, as of now.
According to the Western Cape Tourism, Trade and Investment promotion agency for the Government – Wesgro, in its first-quarter the tourism has reported for the period from January to March 2024.
Considerably, Tourism is a cornerstone of the strategic economic initiative G4J which stands for ‘Growth for Jobs’ and the government is ambitious to stimulate the economy, attract investments and create job opportunities that transform lives and lift many more residents from poverty to prosperity, according to Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger.
MEC Mireille Wenger said that to achieve this, we are setting ambitious targets such as doubling the visitor numbers by 2035 and working to remove obstacles to growth like the visa regime.
Wenger added further to her statement, “For every 100 international visitors, the Western Cape gains R2.1 million in direct tourist spend that adds upto R500,000 to our GDP and creates two local jobs. This is an excellent performance that underscores the importance of tourism for growth and job creation in the defined region.”
“In continuation, to build on the impressive growth, the Western Cape government has recently launched the latest iteration of the R4 million Tourism Growth Fund that aims at increasing the visitor numbers by continuing to build the destination, enrich the attractions and expend the offerings, this ultimately creates more jobs and prosperity across the province,” said Mireille Wenger.
CEO of Wesgro – Wrenelle Stander said that between January and March, the United Kingdom (UK) ranked as the top overseas air market to Cape Town that is followed by Germany, the US, the Netherlands and France.
Moreover, the European markets have accounted for eight of the top ten source markets that indicates a full recovery from the year 2019.
Notably, Namibia was leading in African air Market to Cape Town between January and March with Zimbabwe as a close second. Angola, Mozambique and Kenya rounded out the top five.
Stander further said that the air arrivals to Cape Town from the rest of Africa during the period January and March has reflected a full recovery from eight out of the top-10 source markets to Cape Town versus January and March 2024.
“These markets include Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Botswana, Tanzania and Ghana,” added CEO Stander.