Tourist attractions in Cape Town have reported a strong bounce-back in visitor numbers over the high season, adding to an impressive recovery in passenger numbers at Cape Town International Airport.

Compared with 2019, Groot Constantia was at a 71% recovery rate in visitor numbers, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens 76%, Robben Island 89%, Chapman’s Peak 95%, and Table Mountain just shy of 100%.

“This impressive rebound in tourism can be attributed to the City's Tourism Bounce Back Strategy, which we developed with partners such as Cape Town Tourism (CTT) in the midst of the pandemic and is aimed at stimulating supply and demand from specific source markets,” said James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth.

Cape Town's GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World also reported a total footfall of 95% of its 2019 figures this festive season.

The entertainment destination said its retailers' revenues surpassed 2019 numbers as they capitalised on the increase in traffic and extended trading hours.

GM of GrandWest, Mervyn Naidoo, said the past fiscal showed strong signs of recovery.

“We've hosted over 17 shows since July 2022, attended by more than 92 000 guests. Furthermore, our Grand Hotel was at 100% capacity this festive season with countless out-of-town visitors, we booked excess capacity into the City Lodge, and our retail outlets outperformed 2019 levels and continue to gain momentum.”

In a CTT survey, 85% of tourism industry respondents reported that December's performance was much better than in 2019. The respondents said the primary international source markets were the US, Germany and the United Kingdom. The primary domestic markets were Cape Town, Gauteng, and KwaZulu Natal.

Vos said he was thrilled that tourists could once again appreciate what the Mother City had to offer, and had high hopes for the future.

“I am confident that our critical mission – to create a tourism-related job in every household across Cape Town – will reach even higher if this festive season's stellar performance is anything to go by.”