May 2022 Tourism Report:The WC's tourism & hospitality sector recovery continues

Off the back of the impressive tourism recovery statistics from April 2022, I am pleased to announce that the May 2022 statistics confirm the recovery is continuing. This is good news for our tourism and hospitality sector, which employs tens of thousands of residents across the Western Cape.

The findings are included in Wesgro’s May 2022 report, which is a monthly publication providing valuable insights into tourist arrivals and trends in the Western Cape.

Key findings for May 2022 include:

• Passengers through Cape Town International Airport’s domestic terminal recovered to 83% when compared to the same month in 2019;
• George Airport passenger numbers recovered to 97% of 2019 levels;
• International travel has recovered well since the start of 2022 as airport terminal passenger movement recovered to 74% in May 2022 when compared to May 2019;
• Hotel occupancy stood at 49% in May 2022 representing a recovery rate of 95% when compared to May 2019;
• Visitors to the 27 participating attractions recorded a total of 295 565 in May 2022, representing a 91% year-on-year growth in the number of visitors and a recovery rate of 56% when compared to May 2019;
• The top 5 highest year-on-year growth rates were recorded for Robben Island (+259%), Table Mountain: Boulders (+217%), Cango Caves (+183%), Kogelberg Nature Reserve (+183%) and Table Mountain: Aerial Cableway (+169%); and
• Based on mobile location data insights of 12 565 domestic and 538 international tourists, the Cape Winelands was the most popular region among domestic visitors, while international visitors spending time in Cape Town.

Considering that this period covers the start of our historically low winter tourism season, these statistics certainly give hope to a sector that has been among the hardest hit during the pandemic.

Now that the remaining restrictions have been lifted and as we head into the school holidays, I am hopeful that these upward trends will continue.

We do, however, need to acknowledge the possible impact of the rising price of petrol and the grounding of the Comair fleet. Together with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism and the Western Cape Government’s official destination marketing organisation, Wesgro, we are keeping a close eye on air travel trends.

Through Wesgro, we are also embarking on a domestic tourism marketing campaign on social media to showcase why there really is nowhere better to visit this winter.

Wesgro CEO, Wrenelle Stander, indicated “As we enter the winter season, tourism recovery in the Western Cape remains steady off the back of robust growth in April - this month’s performance reflects significant recovery once again with some areas exceeding pre pandemic levels. I echo MEC Wenger's celebration of the full reopening of tourism, including gathering sizes, which will allow leisure and business events to resume full economic impact. Wesgro calls on the tourism value chain to spend the coming months getting ready, as there are strong indicators pointing towards the coming summer season exceeding 2019 levels”.

I would also like to encourage locals to get out and about and visit the many wonderous places in the Western Cape. Many businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector run great specials during the winter months and just in time for the family road trip during the holidays.