Cape Town takes top travel awards

Cape Town has been named Africa’s Leading City Destination 2023 for the third consecutive year at the World Travel Awards.

The Port of Cape Town at the Waterfront was also voted Africa's Leading Cruise Port, and Cape Town International Airport was named Africa's Leading Airport.

The awards are among several nods Cape Town has received in recent months. At the beginning of October, Condé Nast Traveller announced in their 2023 Reader’s Choice Awards that Cape Town was voted the fourth-best large city in the world and in July, readers of The Telegraph newspaper in Britain nominated Cape Town as the best city in the world.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the City of Cape Town was proud to receive continued recognition in these awards, confirming Cape Town as a leading tourism destination on the continent.

“The tourism industry continues to breathe life into our regional economy and global recognition only increases the numbers of tourists wanting to visit our city, creating more employment opportunities and boosting the local economy.”

Mayoral committee member for economic growth, James Vos, added that the awards were testament to Cape Town’s rich diversity of assets that reveal and celebrate the city’s people and products.

Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Toursim, said the tourism authority was thrilled to receive another global award - the ultimate global standard accolade for exceptional travel excellence.

“This honour is a testament to Cape Town's exceptional allure and unwavering commitment to providing an unforgettable travel experience. The awards not only honours Cape Town's undeniable charm but also acknowledges the dedication of its citizens and tourism industry in preserving and showcasing the city's distinct magic. Our continued efforts to innovate and improve tourist experiences have undoubtedly contributed to these accolades, which we’re adding to our ever-growing list of awards.”

Of the Port of Cape Town’s award for Leading Cruise Port, spokesperson Wrenelle Stander, who is also the CEO of Wesgro, said the cruise industry was growing. “Together with our partners, we look forward to a sustainable and responsible future for the tourism industry and South Africa as a whole, as we anticipate even greater achievements in the seasons to come.”

Waterfront CEO David Green added that the cruise ship industry was an important part of Cape Town’s ocean economy and of the city’s proud maritime heritage. “As beautiful as Cape Town is, if a cruise passenger’s experience on arrival is unpleasant, it can affect their entire perception of the city.

“From international experience we know that the cruise line industry offers enormous potential for tourism growth, and are determined to extend the world-class experience the V&A Waterfront is known for to the Cruise Terminal.”

According to a recent Wesgro economic impact study for the 2022/23 cruise season, cruise tourism injected an estimated R1.2billion into the Western Cape economy between November 2022 and May 2023, marking the biggest cruise season the Cape Town Cruise Terminal has seen to date. For every 30 arriving cruise passengers, the Western Cape cruise industry created one full-time job. This resulted in a total of 1 800 local jobs being created during the 2022/23 season alone.

International visitor spending recorded an excess of R612 million, compared to local visitor expenditure of R132 million over the same period, with cruise lines contributing over R648 million to the Western Cape economy, according to the Wesgro study.

An overwhelming 63% of cruise passengers said they would revisit a destination they had encountered through cruise tourism.

Western Cape MEC of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, congratulated the award winners. “The closer we get to our summer peak period, the more reasons we have to expect a record setting season. This is very exciting because the tourism and hospitality sector contributes significantly to our economy and especially to job creation in the Western Cape.”

“More tourists mean more jobs in our province and the flurry of tourism and hospitality accolades awarded to so many in the Western Cape tourism and hospitality sector gives us hope that by working together to support and grow the industry, we can grow our economy and create many more jobs for residents,” said Ms Wenger.

Other winners include:

• Africa's Leading Design Hotel 2023 - Labotessa Luxury Boutique Hotel in the CBD
• Africa's Leading Luxury Hotel 2023 - The Silo Hotel, V&A Waterfront
• Africa's Leading Luxury Hotel Villa 2023 - Villa Two @ Ellerman House in Bantry Bay
• Africa's Leading Luxury Resort 2023 - One&Only at the Waterfront
• Africa's Leading Sports Resort 2023 - Pezula Nature Hotel & Spa in Knysna

As Cape Town gears up for its peak summer holidays, the City has launched several marketing initiatives targeting visitors in key source markets. These include the ‘Choose Cape Town’ destination campaign that can be seen at Cape Town International Airport.

It will also soon launch a travel campaign in Brazil ahead of the take-off of the direct flight between São Paulo and Cape Town. The City has also published the first edition of its This Is Cape Town magazine which is available at airport lounges around the country and is being given to passengers on Kenya Airways international flights to 40 destinations around the world. This comes after the sister city agreement was signed between the City of Cape Town and the Nairobi City Council.