Cape Town - Cape Town’s peak tourism season has got off to a busy start with the city’s most visited attraction drawing about 100 000 visitors a day.
The V&A Waterfront has reported a 7 to 8 percent increase in visitors compared with the same period in previous years, and more than half of these visitors were local, 19 percent from outside Cape Town and about 26 percent from overseas.
Visitor numbers were expected to spike to about 200 000 a day on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, said V&A Waterfront spokeswoman Emma King.
The Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa’s (Fedhasa) Cape members were positive that the province would experience growth compared to December last year.
Members indicated that the domestic market was continuing to grow and the province remained a prime location for foreign visitors, with Holland, Germany and the UK dominating reservations.
“The Western Cape is really seen as a family friendly destination due to the abundance of locations and activities on offer, so we continue to see the bulk of our bookings stemming from family vacations to the province,” said Fedhasa’s Cape chairman Rob Kucera.
Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said it was pleased with the industry’s forecasts for the festive season and was cautiously optimistic about year-on-year growth for this period.
A survey conducted by Cape Town Tourism last month showed that 90 percent of respondents, drawn from its membership base, were expecting the festive season to be the same or busier than last year.
Last week the Cape Argus reported Cape Town International Airport was expecting passenger numbers for this month to “soar”.
Last month’s domestic arrivals grew by 4 percent to nearly 300 000 compared with the same period last year, while international arrivals grew by 3 percent compared to the same period. Passenger numbers for October showed a similar trend with domestic arrivals growing by 7 percent and international arrivals growing by 10 percent compared to last year.
Garreth Bloor, the city’s mayoral committee member for tourism said: “The City of Cape Town remains optimistic about the upcoming peak season for several reasons which include marketing Cape Town as a premier destination, but more importantly because of the economic opportunities the influx of tourists promise for our locals.”
Cape Town was voted the best destination in the world for a city break in the Telegraph Travel Awards 2014. The city claimed the top spot for the third consecutive year.
Cape Argus