Cape Town’s tourism figures indicate steady recovery
Figures released by Cape Town’s big attractions, Cape Town International Airport, and STR’s Destination Report, indicate mixed performance for December 2018. The second half of the year has shown that the city’s recovery in terms of tourism is stabilising, notwithstanding a poor performance in the early part of 2018.
Cape Town Tourism has identified numerous factors that influenced travel choices in 2018, including a third-quarter recession and the drought as primary factors.
Robben Island showed the highest year-on-year increase for December with a 28% growth in visitors, mostly attributed to improved operations since the same period last year. This was after a year of challenges that saw the attraction 10% down for the whole of 2018.
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway also reported a 6% year-on-year increase for December, a notable recovery after ending the year 2% down for the whole of 2018.
The V&A Waterfront reported that visitor figures were 2% lower for December than in the same period in 2017, as did the Two Oceans Aquarium and Cape Point.
Chapman’s Peak Drive was static at 0%, while Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens saw a 5% decline in December and 5% decrease for the whole of 2018.
Groot Constantia reported a 23% decrease for December, however an overall decline of 6% for the whole of 2018.
International passengers at Cape Town International Airport were up 4% in December (year-on-year), and over 9% in total for 2018, sitting at 2.4 million passengers, according to Airports Company South Africa.
Cape Town’s hotel occupancy saw an increase of 2%, however, the average daily rate was down 4% year-on-year, according to the STR Destination Report.
“Tourism in general is in a period of slow recovery following the drought and recession, and the figures reported bear this out. The recovery of water supplies in the latter part of 2018 following healthy rainfall and the implementation of additional water supplies came a little too late to counteract bookings to the city, although December, in general, offered an indication that tourism is on track to becoming a more stable economic environment once again,” said Cape Town Tourism CEO, Enver Duminy.
Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos added: “It has been a mammoth task on the part of stakeholders to work towards sustainability within the tourism sector throughout 2018, and the figures for December offer some reassurance that this is paying off.”