The City of Cape Town (CoCT) is exploring options to grow the number of tourists from China as well as discussing the possibility of increasing trade by securing Chinese investment.

This follows the recent hosting of  a delegation from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China by the CoCT Mayoral Committee Member for Economic and Asset Management, James Vos and Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato.

 “The CoCT has a long and fruitful relationship with China. We work closely together to promote travel and trade benefits and to attract foreign direct investment into the city,” said Vos.

To strengthen this relationship, the CoCT has signed ‘Sister-City Agreements’ with four cities in China.

“Collaboration with cities across the world and our ability to focus on the catalytic sectors that drive demand and make business sense, are what make our business ecosystem such a success,” explained Vos.

Tourism was a key sector for Cape Town and accounted for roughly 300 000 jobs in the city with potential for growth and development, to which the city was fully committed to investing in, said Vos.

Speaking to Tourism Update on Friday, January 17, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, also commented on the Chinese market as a core source market. “We are busy with a ‘China-Ready’ strategy; it has to be an implementable document with tangible results.”

In terms of when Chinese tourists could be expected, Tshivhengwa said: “For China, there’s a whole lot more that we need to do to be ‘China-Ready’ – from the language, signage and payment methods that they use… And we are working on that.”

Tourism Update’s #LetsGrowTourism campaign aims to gain awareness around tourism growth and development in South Africa. Look out for posts and articles with the hashtag #LetsGrowTourism to support this initiative and, most importantly, keep the communications coming.