Cape Town - Tourism to the Mother City is heading for a bumper season as overseas travellers make use of the favourable exchange rate, balmy weather and loads of attractions.
The City said that it was expecting almost 50000 travellers to arrive from the UK during the period December to March, demonstrating an increase of 30% when compared with the same period last year.
Tourists from Germany will increase by 20% and those from the US, 11%.
Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management James Vos said: “These stellar increases in tourists from some of our key source markets show that by implementing successful strategies, we can increase the numbers of tourists to our city and ultimately benefit our residents and businesses.
“Clearly our investments in destination marketing and tourism development are paying off.”
Vos said that a key growth driver, through travel and trade, was the “Blue Economy”, which encompasses both aviation and ocean economies.
“Tourism accounts for thousands of jobs in our city and has great growth potential. The City in partnership with Cape Town Tourism will continue investing in programmes and initiatives to drive demand that make business sense.
“I am driven by the overarching objective to make my portfolio the ‘growth directorate’ of the City. This means that we focus on attracting investment and tourism which creates jobs and leads to economic growth,” he said.
“To grow the aviation economy, the City provides funding to the air access initiative which is mandated to expand current flight routes and secure new routes to boost tourism and trade. This initiative has contributed to the success of securing 16 new routes, 22 route expansions and increased the international seat capacity to 1.5 milliontwo-way seats.
Also poised for high growth were boat building and cruise tourism.
The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) will be intensifying safety and security ahead of the festive season.
The CCID Safety and Security department has also intensified its efforts to secure the CBD due to the added influx of visitors in the central city. In line with this, the department launched its 2019-20 three-month, crime-prevention and public awareness campaign, “Stash it, don’t flash it”, last week.
The campaign focuses on educating the public on three problematic crimes in the CBD: pickpocketing, theft out of motor vehicles and ATM fraud.
CCID safety and security manager Muneeb Hendricks said: “The central city is a popular venue for partygoers and others looking for entertainment and, during the festive season, even more people come to the CBD to enjoy themselves.
"Unfortunately, as in any busy down town, crafty criminals also look for and find opportunities as people are in holiday mode, enjoying their ‘downtime’ and may not be as vigilant as usual.
"The 'Stash it, don’t flash it' campaign seeks to educate members of the public on how not to become a victim of crime,” Hendricks said.
@MarvinCharles17