Solidifying Cape Town as a firm favourite with world travellers, it has been named “Best City in Africa and the Middle East” and also clinched eighth place overall on the “World’s Top 15 Cities” list in the esteemed Travel and Leisure World’s Best Awards for 2017.
Earlier this year, Cape Town was named No 1 city in Africa for business tourism events by the International Congress and Convention Association, highlighting the diversity on offer in the city, from business to luxury travel, as well as affordable options for the leisure traveller.
There has been ongoing growth in tourism to the city throughout this year following on from a respectable high season, and the forecast for the immediate future is that this trend is set to continue through the latter half of the year, particularly with the much-anticipated opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa at the V&A Waterfront.
Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said the accolades come as “no surprise”.
“I’ve always believed that Cape Town is the best city in Africa, but it’s nice to see it confirmed. What is really exciting is that we are now the eighth best city in the world,” she said.
Myburgh said this was incredible news for the tourism sector.
“Despite all the things going wrong in the country, we continue to be a great city with outstanding international appeal. The lesson we must take from this is that our tourism success is the result of all three tiers of government working together,” Myburgh said.
Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) Cape chairperson Jeff Rosenberg said the organisation was “thrilled by the award”.
“It demonstrates the good work being achieved by the various roleplayers in the city. It serves as testimony to the demand for the Mother City, which has yet again been placed on the map both locally and internationally,” Rosenberg said.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille was also delighted.
“We are ecstatic about the award affirming our status as a consistent destination of choice of travellers from all over the world. The City of Cape Town will continue to do all we can to promote Cape Town as the ideal place to live, work, play and invest in,” she said.
De Lille said Cape Town’s tourism offering “must be constantly refreshed so we can keep people coming back for more”.
“We will be getting on with the work along with our partners in the tourism and business tourism sectors to ensure that we put together innovative packages to keep the planes landing in Cape Town packed to capacity,” De Lille said.
She thanked each and every tourism partner and their staff for putting their best efforts forward to make sure that Cape Town stays on top of the world rankings.
Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said: “We applaud the efforts of every tourism professional and every local who has worked tirelessly to make Cape Town a welcoming destination, renowned the world over as providing a fantastic travel experience.
“Let’s continue to add value to excellence, ensuring an ongoing boost to the economy and sustainability in employment in the sector for more Capetonians.”