Cape Town’s sister city agreements with Atlanta, Miami-Dade and Houston will be re-evaluated by the US Consul General and the City of Cape Town (CoCT) to ensure that each agreement is relevant, future fit for trends and shocks, and whether there are aspects of it that need to be revised towards greater economic growth. 

So said Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, James Vos, following a meeting with the US Consul General in South Africa, Todd Haskell, last week to discuss strengthening regional relations for continued economic growth.

During the meeting, Vos highlighted the importance of tourism as a driver of economic growth, noting that Cape Town had long been a travel favourite for Americans, with 134 000 US travellers visiting in 2019. 

“In 2021, the US was the biggest overseas single source country for travellers to the Cape,” added Vos. 

He pointed out that this thirst for the Mother City was further made evident by the recent United Airlines extension of its New York/Newark-Cape Town route to a year-round, three times a week service, which is expected to generate R523 million (€28.1m) in direct spend in its first year of operation. 

Vos also noted that United had applied for regulatory approval for a year-round service between Washington D.C. and Cape Town.

Delta Air Lines has further applied to operate non-stop between Atlanta and Cape Town.