Cape Town Airport international passenger numbers grow by 9.6%

Image via Airports Company South Africa

There was a slight decline of 1,4% in domestic passengers for the year. In the month of December 2018, international passenger numbers grew by 3,7%, while domestic passenger numbers declined by 0,8%, year-on-year.

These numbers include all traffic through the domestic and international terminals (arrivals and departures) and may include repeat travellers throughout the year.

"The City of Cape Town is delighted at the growth in international passenger numbers for 2018. Busy peak season and tourism growth to the region is encouraging in terms of sustainability, especially following what has been a challenging time for the tourism sector. More visitors mean increased benefits for the city and its residents," said Alderman James Vos, the city's newly appointed mayoral committee member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management.

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, Beverley Schäfer said: "It’s no secret that the tourism industry was hard hit by the drought last year, but reports from many of our tourist offices have been largely positive, and we look forward to working with the industry in 2019 to ensure that this sector continues to grow as it is an important creator of jobs in the province."

Tourism and its ecomonic contributions

"I firmly believe that tourism remains one of the most lucrative sectors in terms of its contribution to the local economy and job creation. With an increase in the number of flights and passenger arrivals, we are optimistic about what this means for future business and investment benefits," said Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism CEO.

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Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris added: "The Cape Town Air Access initiative, a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company South Africa, Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism, South African Tourism, and the private sector, has helped land 13 new routes to Cape Town International Airport, adding over 1.5 million two-way seats to our destination. This has resulted in a R6bn boost to our economy since 2015, as more tourists come to spend money in our city and province, and more cargo is traded through our airport."

Schäfer continued by saying: "Events like the Rugby Sevens held in Cape Town in December and the Queen’s Plate in January helped to stimulate the city’s tourism and hospitality sector. Looking ahead, the city will host the SunMet event later this month, which draws large crowds each year, and has several major conferences lined up in the coming months, including the YPO leadership conference which will see around 2500 delegates from around the world descending on the city in March."

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"Together with our partners, we need to build on our tourism success as a city to ensure this translates into investments in programmes and projects that drive demand and make business sense. My new portfolio has the potential to ensure that we continue to be the go-to city on the African continent and globally for business, trade and tourism. We have a diverse economy that is creating jobs and keeping unemployment low," added Vos.