an inspiring place to do business Tourism numbers 2016
an inspiring place to do business
Tourism market size
• International arrivals grew by 18.5%
• Domestic trips taken grew by 16.9%
• Total tourism market for the Western Cape grew by 17.5%
• 2015: 3.15m
• 2016: 3.70m
• Domestic tourism the far biggest contributor in volume terms
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Top international markets for arrivals to the Western Cape
2015 2016 % Growth
244 782 270 167 9.4%
2015 2016 % Growth
165 488 204 015 18.8%
2015 2016 % Growth
162 170 189 867 14.5%
United Kingdom
Germany
United States of America
Average spend per day: R3 015
Average spend per day: R1 776
Average spend per day: R1 402
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Tourism market value size
Domestic spend:
Total: R2.5bn
Growth YoY: +24.3%
Total foreign direct spend
Total: R18.1bn
Growth YoY: +21.6%
Tourism market value for 2016: R20.6bn
Growth YoY: 22.5%
Increase is due to:
• Tourists spending more per day
• Increase in length of stay
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Length of stay and bed nights
Domestic bed nights
Total: 10.4m
Growth YoY: +25%
Average length of stay
5 nights
International bed nights
Total: 10.2m
Growth YoY: +7.2%
Average length of stay
11 nights
Both domestic and international visitors to the Western Cape stayed 20% longer than the
national average.
Factors contributing to increase include large variety of attractions and experiences across
the province.
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Seasonality
April to September (winter / low season) is up by approximately 30% from 2013 helping to
mitigate the impact of seasonality.
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Top attractions in South Africa
V&A Waterfront: Top attraction visited in
SA: 1.1m (+31%)
Cape Point: Top natural scenery attraction
in SA: 862 000 (+30%)
Robben Island: Top culture & heritage site
in SA: 337 000 (+6%)
Camps Bay beach: Top beach front
attraction in SA: 511 000
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Domestic tourism in the Western Cape
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2013 2014 2015 2016
Intra (Western Cape) Inter (Other provinces)
Of the 2.1m domestic trips taken, we are seeing an even spread between people from
the Western Cape exploring the region and visitors from other provinces. This shows
good growth from both intra and inter-visitors.
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Success of increasing air access to Cape Town
Cape Town Air Access has delivered 10 new routes and 10 route expansions.
Adding 650 000 new seats to Cape Town
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Thank you
For more tourism information please contact:
Judy Lain