Cruise control: City readies for bumper season

3 November 2023

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos, addressed guests at the official opening of the 2023/2024 cruise season

‘Because of the wide-ranging and far-reaching impact of this market, cruise travel is a foundational pillar of my mission to help create a tourism-related job in every Cape Town household. This is why the City supports and funds the Cruise Cape Town initiative administered by Wesgro. An economic impact study by this initiative found that, for every 30 arriving cruise passengers, the provincial cruise industry created one full-time job. It also found that the sector injected R1,2 billion into the Cape economy in the previous cruise season, between November 2022 and May 2023,’ said Alderman Vos.

The Vasco Da Gama is the first of at least 59 cruise liner vessel calls scheduled for Cape Town.

The cruise travel market is expected to be a major boost for Cape Town’s visitor season.

‘Forward bookings for the season are looking excellent. These gains didn’t come out of nowhere, it’s by design, where we work around the clock on clever campaigns that drive more bookings. We are now landing 215 international flights every week in Cape Town. These flights are bringing 31 000 passengers per day. Now we are looking to build on this growth, exceed those figures of the previous great season, and realise our goal of creating a tourism-related job in every household. Through tourism, we can continue to economically empower communities while showcasing and sharing South Africa’s rich culture, natural beauty, adventure, luxury, and heritage with visitors,’ said Alderman Vos.

Caption 1: Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, with a performer at the official opening of the 2023/2024 cruise season.

Caption 2: Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, with officials from the Transnet National Port Authority, Wesgro, and the Cape Town Cruise Terminal.

Caption 3: Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, with Michael Thomas, the Manager of the Cape Town Cruise Terminal.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office

economic development business and trade