Cape Town - Despite a slow economy, blockages and challenges plaguing the Western Cape’s multibillion-rand tourism sector, international arrival numbers at Cape Town International Airport continue to climb with a 17 percent year-on-year increase reported in July.
“There is confidence in the tourism economy here in the southern tip of Africa,” MEC of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde said on Tuesday.
“This is the middle of winter and tourism, despite all the challenges, is still growing, despite a drop of 25 percent and 30 percent seen out of India and China.
“Just imagine if the visa regulations weren’t such an issue… we would be seeing unbelievable numbers,” Winde said.
Kick-starting the province’s tourism season, Winde illustrated how the provincial government in partnerships with the private sector is set to grow the tourism economy.
“Investment is what we need in tourism. There are cranes and construction is happening all over, which is really exciting,” he added.
Naming but a few investments, Winde said the V&A Waterfront is committing R179 million into the development of a dedicated cruise-liner terminal; the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre; and Tsogo Sun’s planned R680m hotel in the CBD.
The Waterfront’s chief executive, David Green, said they’ve recognised that cruise liner tourism is one of the fastest growing areas of tourism.
“We’ve been successful in winning the bid to run the cruise terminal. Cape Town is one of the top ports in the world… We are delighted that for the first time the port has privatised this activity.
“When people arrive, they must be well treated, they can appreciate the mountain and the offerings,” he added.
Green said the cruise terminal will give them the opportunity to improve passenger experience upon disembarking in the city and provides a great scope to grow the tourism business.
Zooming in on Project Khulisa‚ which identified tourism as one of the focus sectors for the province, Winde said its objectives were to increase the annual number of international arrivals from 1.56 million to 2.1 million people over the next four to five years; increasing annual foreign direct spend to R17.2-billion from R16.7bn; growing the number of domestic trips by 600 000 to 2.9 million a year; adding up to a further 100 000 jobs to the tourism sector‚ up from 204 000; and increasing the gross value added from the sector from R17bn‚ up to R28bn.
Winde said he looked forward to the new committee, led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, which will look at the new visa regulations. “We hope to see some concrete changes in this specific barrier to tourism and jobs. We’ve just done the economic analysis that shows that the Western Cape economy will experience a R384m loss as a result of these visa restrictions,” he said.
Cape Argus