WC Tourism Numbers on the Rise | Western Cape Government

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WC Tourism Numbers on the Rise

20 April 2016

The Western Cape’s tourism sector experienced one of its best seasons yet as international and domestic arrivals continued to rise.

Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, today (19 April 2016) officially released the summer season visitor numbers for the province during a press conference at Cape Town International Airport.

Deon Cloete, General Manager at Cape Town International Airport, briefed the media on airport movements.

Minister Winde tabled the tourism figures for the period between November 2015 and March 2016.

“Our tourism sector has experienced another phenomenal year. Figures for most of our biggest attractions are up from last year.

“Between November last year and March 2016, the V&A Waterfront welcomed 11.8 million visitors. This is up 5.8% from the same period in the previous year.

“Kirstenbosch also reported a 1.3% increase over the period under review, logging 466 646 visitors.

“I am also encouraged that we are starting to see a reversal in the downward trend in visitor numbers at Robben Island. During the period under review, we note the 24% increase in visitor numbers compared with the previous year.  Just under 200 000 people visited the World Heritage Site between November last year and March 2016.”

Minister Winde said an analysis on air arrivals into Cape Town, conducted by Wesgro, illustrated the importance of air access. We achieved growth in international arrivals and departures from several markets.

“There has been an impressive 60% increase in Origin and Destination (O&D) passengers coming through Qatar for the time period, from 34 951 to 55 772 passengers. We can attribute this to our partnership with Qatar Airways through which we have actively promoted our destination. There has been an increase of 53% in O&D passengers from Turkey from 36 348 to 55 714. This growth is linked to the landing of Turkish Airlines flights into Cape Town.

“The European markets continue to make up a significant portion of tourist arrivals into Cape Town, accounting for about 45% of arrivals. We observed increases from Germany, the Netherlands and France during the period under review.

“It’s especially fitting that we’re hosting this event at Cape Town International Airport, which is the first touch point international visitors have with our region. I’d like to commend Deon and his team for the work they do to ensure we remain one of the world’s most welcoming destinations.”

Cloete said overall passenger numbers continued to show robust growth i.e. just over 10% for the financial year. On the International front arriving passengers grew by 7% while the Domestic arriving passengers grew by 10% for the same period. Regional growth also showed solid performing, growing by 20%

“On an average day the airport processes close to 26 000 passengers, handles approximately 11 000 number of bags and uplifts nearly 1.2 million litres of aviation fuel. 

On the busiest days these numbers, are closer to 36 000 passengers (27 Nov 15), 18 000 pieces of departure bags (5th Jan 2015) and 1.8 million litres of aviation fuel (4 Dec 15)” said Cloete.

“Over time, the airport has developed the capabilities to facilitate large numbers of passengers and visitors to the airport as result of major events. This includes facilitating events such as the Cycle tour, Two Oceans and Jazz Festival. For the year that was, on time performance closed out at 90%.

Thank you to all partners who have played in part in making this happen, but particularly to the airlines who have chosen Cape Town as their destination of choice.  Even in the face of this growth the team was collectively able to ensure quality service as consistently recognised through global industry benchmarking” concluded Cloete.

Minister Winde said, looking forward, we anticipate the following key trends for the period between April 2016 and August 2016:

·       USA passenger bookings are up 23%, from 10 844 to 13 301 passengers. The length of stay of USA passengers coming to Cape Town is up 16% over the same period (measured for stays of at least 22 days). The number of 4-person per booking numbers are up 25% over the same period, from 1004 to 1252 persons;

·       In Europe, the United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands passenger numbers on bookings are up 18%, 19% and 44% respectively over the period to come.

·       In China, passenger numbers on bookings are up 52%;

 

Minister Winde said these trends were excellent news for the Western Cape, which is working with industry to counter seasonality.

“These figures are great news for jobs and growth in the province. Tourism is our fastest-growing sector, employing 204 000 residents in formal jobs. Through Project Khulisa, we are seeking to add up a further 100 000 jobs to the tourism sector.”

Minister Winde shared some of the Project Khulisa initiatives set to kick off this year:

·       The development of a data and real-time intelligence dashboard to ensure the province can respond to global trends;

·       Implementation of a Madiba Legacy Route. This includes the Madiba statue in the City and the provision of signage along the route;

·       Launch of an online events portal that aggregates data for an all-year events calendar;

·       Further work on landing direct flights to Cape Town.

 

Minister Winde issued a challenge to the tourism sector to keep the momentum going.

“We’ve had another outstanding year. Let’s keep up the good work and ensure that the next season is our best yet.”

Please see the visitor numbers below:

 

Cape Town International Airport

Cape Town International Airport

November 2014

November 2015

December 2014

December 2015

January 2015

January 2016

February 2015

February 2016

March 2015

March 2016

International

75352

81200

84 649

88608

91 568

91482

78 909

84087

79368

84176

Regional

6952

7964

7467

9794

5716

7975

5905

8079

6796

8999

Domestic

298617

339600

344666

386481

259

310 462

293365

331348

343641

369628

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foot Count Into Tourism Offices

Town

Nov-15

Dec-15

Jan-16

Feb-16

Mar-16

TOTAL

Swellendam

1195

1154

998

1520

1345

7204

Suurbraak

309

346

179

321

310

1736

Barrydale

216

358

295

232

289

1747

Cape Agulhas

7320

15026

9206

6924

10525

54686

Knysna

3132

10044

3465

4193

3198

26949

Plettenberg Bay

124

183

121

161

57

699

Gansbaai

1253

2488

1405

1268

1365

9097

Calitzdorp

119

117

114

101

118

732

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attractions

Attraction

Period

November

2015

December

2015

January

2016

February

2016

March

2016

Nov-Mar Total

 CAPE TOWN

Kirstenbosch

2014/2015

86,117

116,986

97,661

75,172

84,627

460,563

2015/2016

83,344

114,389

96,372

83,569

88,972

466,646

Y-O-Y % Change

-3.2%

-2.2%

-1.3%

11.2%

5.1%

1.3%

 

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

2014/2015

78,939

113,310

105,883

79,387

96,638

474,157

2015/2016

102,817

149,682

100,147

109,605

Data not yet available

-

Y-O-Y % Change

30.2%

32.1%

-5.4%

38.1%

-

-

 

Table Mountain National Park

2014/2015

247,673

325,620

295,183

236,482

245,332

1,350,290

2015/2016

284,666

362,718

308,486

298,275

307,142

1,561,287

Y-O-Y % Change

14.9%

11.4%

4.5%

26.1%

25.2%

15.6%

 

TMNP: Boulders

2014/2015

66,332

77,066

68,474

62,251

65,023

339,146

2015/2016

76,284

85,134

81,555

77,665

82,768

403,406

Y-O-Y % Change

15.0%

10.5%

19.1%

24.8%

27.3%

18.9%

 

TMNP: Cape of Good Hope

2014/2015

87,032

104,572

93,300

79,780

80,738

445,422

2015/2016

99,728

112,108

102,788

100,066

108,514

523,204

Y-O-Y % Change

14.6%

7.2%

10.2%

25.4%

34.4%

17.5%

 

V&A Waterfront

2014/2015

2,077,372

2,950,990

2,288,574

1,829,131

2,023,409

11,169,476

2015/2016

2,061,733

3,058,558

2,448,535

1,991,469

2,260,136

11,820,431

Y-O-Y % Change

-0.8%

3.6%

7.0%

8.9%

11.7%

5.8%

 

Robben Island

2014/2015

31,222

33,447

34,964

28,399

31,061

159,093

2015/2016

35,846

47,945

40,590

35,998

38,060

198,439

Y-O-Y % Change

14.8%

43.3%

16.1%

26.8%

22.5%

24.7%

CAPE WEST COAST

West Coast National Park

2014/2015

15,268

36,598

34,729

17,437

18,279

122,311

2015/2016

16,863

41,370

35,668

21,938

26,371

142,210

Y-O-Y % Change

10.4%

13.0%

2.7%

25.8%

44.3%

16.3%

 

West Coast National Park: Unit nights sold

2014/2015

48

53

53

46

56

256

2015/2016

47

56

59

51

56

269

Y-O-Y % Change

-2.1%

5.7%

11.3%

10.9%

0.0%

5.1%

 

West Coast National Park: Bed nights sold

2014/2015

210

227

194

151

207

989

2015/2016

163

234

210

158

230

995

Y-O-Y % Change

-22.4%

3.1%

8.2%

4.6%

11.1%

0.6%

CAPE OVERBERG

De Hoop Nature Reserve

2014/2015

2210

3451

-

-

1286

6947

2015/2016

1507

1827

2649

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

-32%

-47%

-

-

-

-

 

De Mond Nature Reserve

2014/2015

607

1630

1541

691

715

5148

2015/2016

2210

3687

1304

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

264%

126%

-15%

-

-

-

 

Cape Agulhas Lighthouse

2014/2015

1717

5179

3277

1836

2071

14080

2015/2016

5026

2649

3367

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

193%

-49%

3%

-

-

-

 

Agulhas National Park

2014/2015

2007

5700

3687

2368

2624

16386

2015/2016

2897

6226

3785

2620

4124

19652

Y-O-Y % Change

44%

9%

3%

11%

57%

20%

 

Bontebok National Park

2014/2015

1489

2649

1859

1547

1827

9371

2015/2016

1894

3087

1969

1700

2307

10957

Y-O-Y % Change

27%

17%

6%

10%

26%

17%

 

Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens

2014/2015

3703

8799

11208

3790

3812

31312

2015/2016

2649

1126

7988

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

-28%

-87%

-29%

-

-

-

 

Kogelberg Nature Reserve

2014/2015

370

1235

885

414

493

3397

2015/2016

2649

3687

969

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

616%

199%

9%

-

-

-

 

Stony Point

2014/2015

10079

11082

8832

6310

7114

43417

2015/2016

3135

1836

8572

Awaiting data

Awaiting data

-

Y-O-Y % Change

-69%

-83%

-3%

-

-

-

CAPE GARDEN ROUTE & KLEIN KAROO

Cango Caves

2014/2015

21997

30221

21337

14637

16015

104 207

2015/2016

21547

30792

21245

17974

25270

116 828

Y-O-Y % Change

-2%

2%

0%

23%

58%

12%

 

Wilderness National Park

2014/2015

8502

25495

17578

4388

4781

60 744

2015/2016

1166

21300

17920

6820

11039

58 245

Y-O-Y % Change

-86%

-16%

2%

55%

131%

-4%

 

Tsitsikamma National Park

2014/2015

31235

38586

34890

23512

27587

155 810

2015/2016

34093

40704

33744

31682

40676

180 899

Y-O-Y % Change

9%

5%

-3%

35%

47%

16%

CAPE KAROO

Karoo National Park

2014/2015

3246

5759

3575

2808

3475

18 863

2015/2016

2553

6246

3244

2652

3912

18 607

Y-O-Y % Change

-21%

8%

-9%

-6%

13%

-1%

Media Enquiries: 

Bronwynne Jooste

Spokesperson: Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities

Responsible for Tourism, Economic Development and Agriculture

Tel: 021 483 3550

Cell: 060 970 4301

Email: bronwynne.jooste@westerncape.gov.za