Cape Town is ready to welcome festive season travellers to the city. This year the city is pulling out the stops to ensure that travellers and locals will enjoy a safe holiday.
The City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for economic opportunities and asset management, Alderman James Vos, urged residents and businesses to respect the Covid-19 regulations and ensure compliance.
"We are concerned that the infection rate continues to rise. We all have a role to play in keeping safe so we can keep our businesses open and the economy going. Always wear your mask, keep a safe distance from others, don't gather in large crowds and continue to wash your hands and sanitise regularly.
"We are all in this together and being responsible is the key to a successful recovery of our economy. Let's do it for Cape Town and do it right," he said.
Vos said the city is expecting a higher demand for domestic tourism this year due to Covid-19. Together with Cape Town Tourism (CTT), the city is running various campaigns to stimulate the visitor economy. These include a domestic-focused flight campaign, the pocket-friendly challenge campaign and the TravelWise initiative and safety response app.
Vos together with other key stakeholders visited key attractions across the city, including the V&A Waterfront, the City Sightseeing Bus, Table Mountain Arial Cable Way and the District Six Museum, to check whether they were adhering to the health and safety measures.
"The visitor economy is everyone’s business. We have seen a steady increase in flights to Cape Town over the past few months since most restrictions were lifted and South African borders opened.
"I am very pleased that the Cape Town International Airport is now safely welcoming 110 flights per day or roughly 770 per week, up from 364 flights per week in September. Insights from Travelstart, who we have partnered with on a domestic-focused campaign, indicated that the Johannesburg to Cape Town air route has been selling out daily. Furthermore, all routes to Cape Town are selling at higher rates than routes to any other city in South Africa," he said.
Vos said the city's recently launched Pocket-Friendly Challenge domestic campaign aims to capture the attention of potential visitors and encourage them to choose Cape Town as their holiday destination but also inspire locals to explore their city.
This video-driven campaign series sees multinational and multicultural teams take R150 per person to explore Cape Town’s authentic neighbourhoods. The focus is on the great value, enjoyment, discovery, and the unique experiences that Cape Town has to offer.
Safety and security in Cape Town remain a focus when it comes to tourism. As part of CTT’s TravelWise initiative, which gives visitors educational information on health and safety, with a particular focus on responsible travel, the partnership with safety response app Namola was launched.
The main aim is to give visitors and locals peace of mind. Namola is an app that pinpoints your location, immediately gives you an emergency operator to talk to, and gets you the help you need, fast.