Cape Town - As just over seven million two-way passengers arrived at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) between January and November this year, the province said it was gearing up for a bumper festive season.
Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC, Mireille Wenger this week met with interns at the airport who will assist with ensuring that operations run smoothly.
“Today, I can confirm that just over seven million two-way passengers have come through this award-winning airport between January and November this year, which includes 1.62 million international and 5.39 million domestic two-way passengers.
“Ensuring that these passengers experience efficient service is key to keep them coming back and this is why we are visiting today, to meet with some of the 42 interns placed across the airport, including at security, immigration, check-in counters, and the apron office, and at help desks and information kiosks, to make sure that all runs smoothly and that if an operational challenge does arise, that it is resolved as quickly as possible,” she said.
According to statistics from the monthly tourism report compiled by Western Cape’s destination marketing organisation, domestic two-way passengers through CTIA between January and November 2022 reached 5.39 million and recovered to 71% of 2019 figures.
International two-way passengers through CTIA reached 1.63 million between January and November 2022 and recovered to 70% against the same period in 2019.
Between January and October 2022, the UK ranked as the top source market to Cape Town (via air), followed by Germany, US, Netherlands, and France.
Tourism figures further showed the top five highest year-on-year growth rates in November 2022 were recorded for Robben Island (216%), Table Mountain National Park: Cape of Good Hope (167%), Table Mountain Cableway (146%), Table Mountain National Park: Boulders (145%) and Cango Caves (139%).
“We have come a long way from the end of the pandemic and are now at a point where we are expecting a very impressive summer season, with 191 international flights coming into Cape Town each week from the start of next year, representing a total of 1.56 million two-way seats.
“We will continue to work with all our stakeholders across the tourism and hospitality sector to remove obstacles they face so that the sector can continue to grow from strength to strength, contributing to economic growth and job creation," Wenger said.
Cape Times