FOCUS FEATURE SPECIAL
Doubling tourist arrivals is a national priority Airports Company South Africa is on a massive spending drive.
M
ore than twice as many foreign tourists will visit South Africa in 2030 than is currently the case. President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly announced that a target of 21-million foreign tourists per year is attainable. What might seem like a lofty goal is given credence by the success of a remarkable Western Cape project to increase the number of seats on routes to and from Cape Town called Cape Town Air Access. It has been spectacularly successful. Direct flights to the city have increased the number of seats available by more than 700Â 000 since the programme was launched in 2015. Cape Town Air Access is a partnership between Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company South Africa, Cape Town Tourism and South African Tourism. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2020
32
The announcement of a new direct flight between New York and Cape Town in July 2019 by United Airlines is significant as it gives direct access to the lucrative United States market. The estimated impact on direct tourism spend is in the region of R283-million (Grant Thornton). South African Tourism believes that revenue from the US could continue to grow at 16%, leading to income for South Africa of
