Cruise tourism contributed R1.2bn (€58.4m) to the Western Cape economy during its 2022/3 season, according to a new economic impact assessment, but there is still room to grow.

The assessment, conducted by StratEcon on behalf of Cruise Cape Town, covered the first full cruise season since COVID-19 lockdowns were lifted. It found that the season generated R1.4bn (€68.1m) in expenditure, translating into a contribution of R1.23bn to the Western Cape economy.

Over 1 000 people in the province were directly employed by the industry, with 1 800 jobs created due to the industry’s multiplier effects.

According to the report, shops, markets and souvenir sellers had a 43% share (of the jobs), followed by hotels and restaurants with 37%. Various business services like tour agencies received 6%, while port fees and other government services had 5%. The remaining 10% was distributed between, to mention a few, fuel, transport, recycling and water provision.

Cruise Cape Town, established by Wesgro in 2020, follows the blueprint for the highly successful Air Access programme. Private and public partners are brought together to remove constraints to growth and promote air, and now cruise, travel.

Speaking at the launch of the economic impact assessment, Monika Iuel, Chief Marketing Officer at Wesgro, said the interplay between Cruise Cape Town and Air Access was beneficial to the growth of the “fledgling” cruise industry in the province.

“The cruise lines look favourably at destinations where they can take their passengers home with a direct flight, so Cruise wins when Air Access wins.”

In the 2022/23 season, 70 vessels called at the province. Of these, eight were international visits, 34 were international turnaround visits and the remaining 28 were domestic turnaround visits.

Iuel said turnaround visits, in which a ship arrives, offloads passengers and takes on new ones, were the most desirable because tourists visited attractions either before boarding or after disembarking from the ship, and there was an exchange of goods and services as ships restocked.

The 2022/3 season brought with it 145 000 two-way passengers and 42 000 crew members. Cape Town Cruise Terminal, which opened in 2018, has an estimated capacity of 300 000 people per annum, so there is still room to grow.

Research has shown that worldwide, 63% of cruise passengers have returned to a destination they visited while on a cruise.

The economic impact report states: “This is important for the Western Cape. This repeat tourism can increase incrementally over time as international visitors are introduced to the Western Cape and become regular visitors.”

While Cape Town Harbour has received the bulk of the visits, Iuel said the focus was on the broader Western Cape coastline, and their work was “managing to bring economic value to the smaller towns along the Western Cape coastline”.

This is evidenced by Mossel Bay recording its biggest ever cruise season, with 14 ships visiting in 2022/23, and 22 scheduled for the upcoming season.

Looking ahead, a total of 49 ship calls, 90 200 passengers and 38 000 crew are currently forecast for the 2023/4 season. While the number of ships is smaller than the previous season, the reduction has largely been in the number of domestic cruises visiting. The season will include 22 world cruises, 23 international coastal calls and four domestic visits.

“The big international vessels are growing so we expect the economic impact will be retained because they stay longer and spend more,” Iuel said.