Cape Town - The Western Cape attracted 1.5 million foreign tourists who
has spent R18 billion in the province in 2016. This is according to the latest
figures recently released by South African Tourism (SAT) this week.
After the release of the figures, the Minister of Economic
Opportunities, Alan Winde, Wesgro, Cape Town and the Western Cape’s tourism as
well as the trade and investment promotion agency, will provide an update on
the Project Khulisa progress to grow the tourism sector.
The figures from SAT’s report shows in 2016, 1.5 million
international tourists travelled to the province which gives a year-on-year
increase of 18.5 percent, foreign tourist spending grew by 21.6%, increasing to
R18.1 billion, domestic tourist arrivals reached 2.1 million bringing it to
16.9 percent year-on-year and they spent R2.5 billion, which is a 24.3%
increase from the previous year.
Read also: Western Cape says tourism hit record level
Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde said: “2016
was a phenomenal year for Western Cape tourism, with substantial increases
recorded across the board. This is a result of amongst others the decision we
made to put tourism front and centre through our Project Khulisa growth
strategy.
When we put Project Khulisa together, we believed that
tourism held huge potential to unlock accelerated growth and job creation in
our province. We put dedicated teams, and a dedicated programme of action in
place to realise this potential.”
He said that next week a full analysis of the tourist
performance to date will be provided and they will be reporting back on their
achievements in terms of creating growth and jobs in this sector.
Wesgro Chief Marketing Officer, Judy Lain said: “The latest
South African Tourism data underlines the strength of the tourism sector as an
economic driver for the Western Cape. Looking forward, Wesgro will continue
driving their leisure and Convention Bureau plans to keep the momentum going.”
“Tourism can help create jobs during tough economic times,
so we must all double-down on our efforts to grow these numbers even further,”
Lain said.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE