22-12-2016
The arrivals were entertained by a local marimba band and received a box of Mandela Tea with a welcoming message from Wesgro, Cape Town and the Western Cape's official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency.
Over the past year the efforts of Cape Town Air Access (a division within Wesgro), and a partnership between the Western Cape Government, City of Cape Town, Airports Company South Africa, Cape Town Tourism and Wesgro, has led to the addition of hundreds of over 500 000 direct seats in and out of CTIA.
Since July 2016, this additional capacity has generated R3 billion in tourism spend for the Western Cape. Between September and October 2016, 147 622 international arrivals were recorded at Cape Town International Airport, up from 119 451 passengers last year.
Further, travel data company ForwardKeys has estimated that there has been a significant year on year increase in festive season bookings for the Cape by European visitors:
· 39% increase in bookings from Netherlands;
· 27% increase in bookings from France;
· 17% increase in bookings from Germany; and
· 15% increase in bookings from United Kingdom.
Tourism employs 204 000 people in the Western Cape and the province's government aims to add 100 000 more to this sector through its Project Khulisa growth strategy.
We look forward to welcoming even more visitors as the season continues, and growing the tourism sector.