Recent data on arrivals recorded in April 2022, released by Statistics South Africa, confirms a strong recovery for leading Western Cape source markets, when compared to the same period in 2019.

Most notably, in April 2022, visitors from the United Kingdom arriving at Cape Town International Airport, recovered to an almost perfect 98% of pre-pandemic levels.

Germany and the Netherlands have also recovered strongly according to April’s data, recording 86% and 82% recovery rates, respectively, when compared to April 2019.

Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger said: “This is more good news for our tourism and hospitality sector, which is recording a sustained tourism recovery. But we all agree that we don’t just want to get back to 2019 levels, we want to far exceed them.”

Visitor numbers to WC increase

“That is why we are boosting our destination marketing, tackling barriers to visitor access, and ensuring that we connect Cape Town to more cities around the world, through our award-winning Cape Town Air Access programme. We also continue to focus on our domestic tourism market, by encouraging South Africans to enjoy the diversity of experiences our province has to offer,” says Mireille Wenger.

Monika Iuel, Chief Destination Marketing Officer at Wesgro, says it’s extremely promising to see the return of loyal visitors, and welcome new explorers to the destination from our key source markets. We’ve been targeting German, Dutch and UK travellers through our respective ‘Neverending Tourists’ international marketing campaigns, which have performed, and continue to perform, exceptionally well in market.

“From welcoming United Airlines increased service in February, to Air Belgium’s plans to launch flights to Cape Town from September, and Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to return to the Mother City starting November - we are confident that we are on the right track to surpassing pre-pandemic visitor figures. We remain dedicated to working alongside our stakeholders and partners to not only recover, but exceed pre-pandemic visitor numbers.” added Iuel.

Wesgro CEO, Wrenelle Stander, notes: “It is wonderful news that so many of our key source markets are rallying and that recovery is evidently more rapid than previously projected; as a result we are optimistic that the coming summer season will be a strong one. We therefore call on businesses right along the tourism value chain to use the upcoming months to prepare their operations for the upcoming high season, to ensure that Cape Town and the Western Cape deliver exceptional holidays and business events for all visitors to our destination.”

Minister Wenger concluded: “The Western Cape Government’s top priority is to grow the economy and create jobs, and the tourism and hospitality sector, in particular, will be key to achieving this goal. That is why we will continue to do whatever we can to get as many visitors back to the Western Cape, and as quickly as possible.”

ALSO READ:May 2022 Tourism Report

Key findings for May 2022 include:

  • Passengers through Cape Town International Airport’s domestic terminal recovered to 83% when compared to the same month in 2019;
  • George Airport passenger numbers recovered to 97% of 2019 levels;
  • International travel has recovered well since the start of 2022 as airport terminal passenger movement recovered to 74% in May 2022 when compared to May 2019;
  • Hotel occupancy stood at 49% in May 2022 representing a recovery rate of 95% when compared to May 2019;
  • Visitors to the 27 participating attractions recorded a total of 295 565 in May 2022, representing a 91% year-on-year growth in the number of visitors and a recovery rate of 56% when compared to May 2019;
  • The top 5 highest year-on-year growth rates were recorded for Robben Island (+259%), Table Mountain: Boulders (+217%), Cango Caves (+183%), Kogelberg Nature Reserve (+183%) and Table Mountain: Aerial Cableway (+169%); and
  • Based on mobile location data insights of 12 565 domestic and 538 international tourists, the Cape Winelands was the most popular region among domestic visitors, while international visitors spending time in Cape Town.

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