Tourism recovery in Cape Town is well under way, bolstered by Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) winning its eighth consecutive award for ‘Best Airport in Africa’ and third consecutive award for ‘Best Airport Staff in Africa’ at the Skytrax World Airport Awards, held recently at the Passenger Terminal EXPO in Amsterdam.
“This latest accolade is further proof of the outstanding standards and level of service we foster in the Western Cape. The award also confirms that our tourism facilities are world-class, befitting our province being a top location for visitors, domestically and from abroad,” said Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde.
“The solid growth we are seeing in tourism is integral to our economic growth, recovery, and job creation.”
Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, said the City and the Western Cape province had seen a number of successes in its economic growth efforts.
According to an overview of Western Cape Tourism Performance in 2022, the Western Cape ranked as the top-performing province in South Africa with respect to the overseas markets, recording the highest number of tourist arrivals of all provinces, at 697 132.
Other key highlights in 2022 include:
- The Western Cape recorded the highest total foreign direct spend out of all provinces, totalling R14,4 billion (€XXX);
- By source market, six out of the top 10 overseas markets to the Western Cape originated from Europe, with the Netherlands (91% recovery) and Switzerland (94% recovery) nearly at full recovery compares with 2019;
- Namibia led tourist arrivals from the African continent, accounting for close to 90,000 tourists in 2022 and a year-on-year increase of 81%. This market has now fully recovered when compared with pre-pandemic levels;
“Tourism recovery in the Western Cape remains impressive, contributing greatly to our economy and job creation, and we will continue to work to market our destination so we can attract more visitors, to further boost growth and job creation in the province,” said Wenger.
Skytrax awards
Skytrax launched its first global Airport Customer Satisfaction Survey in 1999, where travellers from around the world take part to decide the winners.
The survey evaluates traveller experiences across different airport services and product key performance indicators, including check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security, and immigration.
The airports voted best in Africa were:
- Cape Town International Airport
- King Shaka International Airport
- OR Tambo International Airport
- Mohammed V International Airport
- Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport
- Marrakesh Menara Airport
- Addis Ababa Bole International Airport
- Kigali International Airport
- Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
- Bram Fischer International Airport
Cape Town also won the Best Airport Staff in Africa award for the third year, while Durban’s King Shaka International Airport won Best Regional Airport in Africa and OR Tambo won Best Airport Hotel in Africa.
“These are remarkable achievements for our airports and proof that we are upholding our status with world-class standards in our airports,” said Minister of Tourism, Patricia De Lille.
“South Africa remains one of the world’s top tourist destinations and the Department of Tourism stands ready to support and work with all stakeholders to accelerate all programmes that will see the tourism sector increase its contribution to our economy and create more jobs for our people.”
