Natalie Cowling
Research Expert South Africa
Tourism in Cape Town - statistics & facts
Cape Town, the Mother City of South Africa, offers a great variety of history, nature, food, and many tourist attractions, such as the Cape Point and Table Mountain. In combination with its Mediterranean-style climate, this makes it an ideal holiday destination for many. However, the pandemic had a devastating effect on the tourism industry in South Africa, with booking cancellations resulting in loss of revenue and personnel. Nevertheless, Cape Town’s tourism is recovering fast and is on its way back to pre-COVID-19 figures.
Post-pandemic recovery of tourism
Many domestic and international tourists arriving in Cape Town travel by air. Due to the pandemic, domestic passengers that utilized the airport decreased dramatically from approximately 8.4 million in 2019 to around 3.17 million in 2020. Nevertheless, 2021 saw a slight increase again, and in the first half of 2022, the passenger volume nearly reached the previous year’s level. Similar results were seen in the number of international travelers; roughly 2.6 million international passengers arrived and departed from Cape Town International Airport in 2019, decreasing drastically in 2020 and 2021. However, in the first two quarters of 2022, the number increased to nearly a million passengers. Additionally, in the first five months of 2022, the majority of these international tourists came from the United Kingdom (roughly 45,000 arrivals), whereas Germany and the United States counted in total around 60,000 travelers. The increase in passenger volume illustrated that Cape Town’s tourism industry was slowly recovering.Performance of accommodations in Cape Town
With people traveling again, accommodations saw a steady increase in their occupancy rate. As of July 2021, the rate amounted to 28 percent, indicating the occupied rooms at the given time. Approximately two years later, this increased to nearly 53 percent. Even though the hotel industry sees an occupancy between 70 and 95 percent as an ideal rate, a recovery was evident in post-pandemic times. The revenue per available room (RevPAR) also significantly increased over these two years. While the RevPAR in July 2021 amounted to 252 South African rands (around 13 U.S. dollars), in June 2023, it totaled 959 South African rands (roughly 51 U.S. dollars). Furthermore, most tourists staying overnight were there domestic business purposes in 2023, whereas around a quarter of the visitors traveled for international leisure reasons.Natural tourist attractions received the most visitors
On average, domestic travelers and international tourists spend around three days in Cape Town during their travel. During these days, many touristic sites are visited. The most popular attraction is Chapman’s Peak Drive, counting about 690,000 visitors as of 2022. This windy road between Noordhoek and Hout Bay gives spectacular views of Cape Town's coastal areas. The second most visited site is Table Mountain, with roughly 484,000 visitors, whereas Cape Point completed the top three with around 383,000 tourists traveling to the southeast corner of Cape Peninsula.
