Cape Town - Tourism in the Western Cape has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the province’s finance, economic opportunities and tourism committee said.
They said the province has seen a 232% year-on-year increase as overseas tourist arrivals reached 697 132 in 2022.
DA Western Cape spokesperson on finance, economic opportunities and tourism, Cayla Murray said that Wesgro, a trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, also reported that international arrivals to Cape Town International Airport surpassed pre-pandemic levels for each month this year, with March 2023 seeing a 103% recovery when compared to March 2019.
“Among the most important metrics revealed by Wesgro are numerous categories where the Western Cape leads all provinces for 2022, including total foreign direct spend of R14.4 billion, and total bed nights from international tourists standing at 9.7 million.
“These statistics clearly show that the Western Cape is poised to move on completely from the recovery period, and achieve real growth that will result in more jobs for our residents.
“It is especially noteworthy that this recovery has taken place in the context of inefficiency from the Department of Home Affairs, which has struggled to process visas in a timely manner, resulting in around half of all e-visa applications not even being processed, let alone approved,” said Murray.
Cape Times