- Robben Island and Table Mountain have been identified as some of the key drivers behind a surge in tourism trips.
- July 2022 figures show an 87% recovery rate in passengers arriving through Cape Town International Airport's international terminal compared to the same period in 2019.
- Due to the pandemic, many nature reserves, especially those relying heavily on international tourists, had to lay off workers while some businesses in the hospitality sector closed down.
The South African tourism industry is well on its way to recovery following the catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with domestic tourism recording more than a 100% increase in trips in the first six months of 2022 compared to same period last year.
Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu announced this on Sunday at the launch of Tourism Month.
She said the region's five major attractions - Robben Island, the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, Table Mountain National Park's aerial cableway, Boulders Beach, and the Viljoensdrift river cruise - were some of the drivers behind the increase.
The launch was held at !Khwa ttu Nature Reserve in Yzerfontein, which is an hour's drive from Cape Town.
The tourism industry suffered devastating losses when international borders were closed in 2020 to control the spread of Covid-19.
Many nature reserves, especially those that heavily relied on international tourists, had to lay off workers while some businesses in the hospitality sector closed down.
But Sisulu announced the situation was improving.
She said in the first half of the year, 15.2 million domestic trips were taken, marking a 114% increase compared to the same period in 2021.
Sisulu added this was way above the same period in 2019, which saw 8.6 million domestic trips taken.
"We are also seeing a significant increase in domestic spend. Local demand for travel has surged following the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions and removal of travel bans.
"Many of our small tourism businesses that struggled during the travel restrictions benefitted from the spend we are seeing now.
"We can all be proud of the domestic tourism performance to date, which is a result of various factors, including our marketing efforts and meaningful collaborations with the trade," she said.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who could not attend the event, said in a statement he was honoured the province had been chosen as the host for this year's Tourism Month celebrations.
Winde added tourist arrivals into Cape Town continued to show impressive recovery.
He said:Speaking at the launch, Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said in 2019, the gross value added by the tourism sector to the Western Cape amounted to R15.5 billion and supported 174 982 direct jobs, which did not even consider indirect jobs created across the entire tourism value chain.
She added tourism and the hospitality sector was an important part of both the national and provincial economies.
"Which is why the Western Cape government, through our official destination marketing organisation, Wesgro, is working hard to increase connections to the Western Cape.
"On Thursday, I confirmed that the sustained tourism recovery in international arrivals seen over the last few months, compared to pre-pandemic levels, has continued with recovery rates at Cape Town International Airport's international terminal, reaching the highest level over the last five months," said Wenger.
She added while the province still had a way to go to restore domestic arrivals, it was encouraging to see total two-way domestic passengers between January and July of this year already stood at 3.4 million and it boded well for the rest of the year.
"It is our job to ensure that this continues, by improving air connectivity to Cape Town, marketing our destination both at home and abroad, especially in Africa, and by removing barriers that stand in the way of the growth of this important sector."
To support small businesses in the tourism sector, which have been hard-hit by the pandemic, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism established a Tourism Product Development Fund which has provided R3.8 million to 11 beneficiaries over the last year.