MARKET NEWS

Behind the scenes of Cape Town’s tourism rebound

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it has surely taken an entire country to get behind the tourism sector to drive arrival figures back to pre-Covid levels.

Cape Town’s Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront closed off 2022 with an astonishing 72.6 per cent occupancy level, just 2.1per cent off its 2019 figure. The hotel actively markets itself in the luxury end of Cape Town’s accommodation offering, with one of the most spectacular locations in the city, and guest amenities that speak for themselves. However, without the support of the country’s tourism institutions and the Western Cape’s strategies to entice visitors back to the province, the hotel might not have achieved these figures.

“If visitors are not able to travel easily, safely and at a reasonable cost to a destination, then any single tourism facility’s sales and marketing efforts will go unnoticed,” said Clinton Thom, general manager of Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront.

With the recent addition of United Airlines – bringing the total number of international carriers with direct flights into Cape Town to 15 – seat capacity into the Mother City has increased significantly. This indicates that there is indeed a market and appetite from international business and leisure travellers to visit Cape Town, and they need to be serviced by a range of accommodation.

“We are all benefitting from the efficiency of Cape Town International Airport which has contributed to the enhanced reputation of the city as a desirable destination,” Mr Thom said.

From no flights from the USA five years ago, the airport now enjoys 12 flights per week from that country. “The US is South Africa’s fastest growing tourism market,” Mr Thom said, whose hotel stats support this.

Wesgro, which houses the Collaborative Cruise Cape Town initiative, said the Cruise Ship season, which opened last year in November 2022, is expected to create a number of jobs in both the downstream and upstream tourism industries.

“Cruise tourism generates R300-million (US$16.35m) in annual economic impact and supports thousands of jobs in Cape Town and the Western Cape, and the start of the 2022/23 cruise season represents a significant milestone in realising Cruise Cape Town’s goal of capitalising on the growing global cruise tourism trend and growing the cruise economy,” said Wrenelle Stander, chief executive officer of Wesgro.

Wesgro’s role in the city successfully winning conference bids worth R393million for events between 2022 and 2024 is also a significant contributor to the city’s tourism rebound. As well as the Radisson Blu’s own amazing recovery and share in the conference market, 85 of Cape Town Tourism’s other members have reported better than 2019 performances. As well as pure leisure travellers, more than an estimated 20,000 conference delegates will undoubtedly experience one or more of the city’s most iconic attractions. They include Robben Island, Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, whose facilities and operations are world-class. In addition, the province’s outstanding culinary achievements and award-winning wine farms attract visitors in their droves.

The Western Cape government’s ability to consistently remain at one load shedding level lower than the rest of the country has also added to the city and province’s attraction for domestic travellers, who make up a significant number of the Cape’s visitors.

“The collaboration between the public and private sectors has been a large part of the Western Cape’s success in recapturing its share of both the local and international tourism market,” Mr Thom said.

“There are many examples of companies working together on joint marketing initiatives and joint messaging on social media which have strengthened our position,” he added.

The Western Cape, and the jewel in its crown, Cape Town, have benefitted from teamwork that has been implemented by local companies and institutions in order to protect one another’s livelihoods and to secure the future of the region as the country’s top tourism performer.