Following the announcement that SAA will start flights to São Paulo from Johannesburg and Cape Town later this year, the City of Cape Town is rolling out a major digital campaign in Brazil to woo South American visitors.
SAA will fly to São Paulo four times a week, twice out of Cape Town International Airport (Tuesdays and Saturdays) and twice out of OR Tambo International Airport (Mondays and Thursdays). Bookings opened on June 29 with launch flights scheduled out of Cape Town on October 31 and from Johannesburg on November 6.
City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, James Vos, said previous digital campaigns in the UK and Europe had yielded significant results, with up to 25 million impressions.
“This is one of the measures we use to push demand from key source markets,” he said, pointing out that the previous campaigns saw inbound travel surpass pre-COVID levels.
“UK passengers recovered to 104% of the January to April 2019 numbers. Germany hit 106% and the Netherlands reached 116%,” highlighted Vos.
In April this year Vos and Cape Town Tourism CEO, Enver Duminy, travelled to Brazil to meet with various airline executives, tourism bodies and investment agencies to present the Cape Town value proposition and value offer.
“We also made the case for a direct flight that will allow for easy access to and from this important source market. Our Air Access team in Wesgro has been engaging with aviation stakeholders over a long period to prepare the route.
“With this new direct flight we will firm up relations between our two regions, boost trade and bring more South American tourists to Cape Town that will benefit our city's economy and work towards our goal to create a tourism-related job in every household,” said Vos.
‘Biggest unserved market’
São Paulo is Brazil’s most populous city and is also the South American country’s financial centre and one of the biggest financial hubs in the world.
The city was identified as the biggest unserved market with the fastest growth for Cape Town and the Western Cape in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.
According to the official spokesperson for Cape Town Air Access, Wrenelle Stander, in 2019, 43 000 two-way passengers were recorded to have travelled between the two regions, with passenger growth equating to an impressive 26% average growth per year between 2015 and 2019.
“The direct connection has been a work in progress for the Cape Town Air Access team for five years now. We are thrilled to see our efforts finally come to fruition.
“A direct, non-stop connection will significantly boost the recovery of Latin American traffic to Cape Town, which stood at only 23% in 2022 compared with 2019 passenger volumes. Beyond the convenience factor, Cape Town is perfectly positioned to serve as a connecting hub between Asia and South America. The direct route will be the shortest one available to date.”
Stander said with a direct flight time of up to eight hours, this route's implementation would significantly reduce current travel duration by over 50%, providing an efficient travel option for passengers.
Duminy added: "We are enormously proud of SAA's initiative in introducing these direct flights, which marks a substantial step in reinforcing connections between our destinations. SAA's proactive role in boosting tourism and trade is commendable and speaks volumes of our effective collaboration."
