Cape Town - A report by Cape Town Air Access (CTAA) has revealed that last year, the Western Cape economy received a cash injection of more than R24 billion, solely from international arrivals through Cape Town International Airport.
CTAA, an air-route development initiative by Wesgro, the provincial tourism, trade and investment agency, released updated figures estimating how many international passengers travelling into the province duly contributed to the economy.
Over the years, Wesgro, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have emphasised how essential the aviation industry is to the tourism sector in the province.
This was reinforced by CTAA’s report, which revealed that the arrival of 605 000 foreign passengers injected R24.3bn into the Western Cape in 2022, supporting 10600 jobs.
Wesgro said the CTAA found that for every 100 international passengers who travelled into the province, R2.1 million was generated in direct tourism, and supported the movement of R1.4m worth of air cargo for the province.
Wesgro CEO and CTAA spokesperson Wrenelle Stander said further analysis of the demographic breakdown of these travellers unveiled that for the top five markets, the distribution included on average eight passengers from the UK, six Germans, five US citizens, three Netherlands nationals and three Namibians, all indicative of Wesgro’s top source tourism and export markets.
Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said: “It’s also worth noting that the passenger and cargo connectivity provided from the Western Cape has positively impacted foreign direct investment and trade, providing even greater access to foreign markets, and encouraging exports.”
City of Cape Town Mayco member for economic growth James Vos said: “Aviation is a pillar of Cape Town’s destination value offering and fits in perfectly with my goal to help create a tourism-related job in every household in the metro because when we land more flights, multiple industries benefit.”
Today the City’s economic growth directorate will be launching its new immersive campaign, “Choose Cape Town”.
According to Vos, the campaign will work to highlight why Cape Town is the top choice to visit, not only for people looking for a visitor experience, but also to draw in potential investors or businesses, or those wanting to relocate.
Vos’s campaign will be centred on five pillars, namely Aviation, Cruise Travel, Events and Conferences, Product Development and Destination Marketing.
It will be advertised across various mediums, including Cape Town airport, and the SAA on-board magazine, through a digital campaign in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Portuguese, Spanish and English, and by word of mouth by pilots on Kenya Airways flying to more than 40 destinations.
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za