03/09/2026
TOURISM MUST WORK HARDER FOR MORE OF CAPE TOWN
By Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth and Tourism at the City of Cape Town
Tourism Month starts today, and while it is certainly a time to celebrate Cape Town’s success as a world-class destination, I believe it should also be a time to ask a more important question: what comes next?
For me, tourism has never been simply about the number of people arriving at Cape Town International Airport or the number of hotel rooms occupied. Tourism is an economic opportunity, one that can create jobs, grow small businesses and open doors for communities across our city.
The question we should constantly be asking is: how do we make tourism work harder for more people in Cape Town?
I have two particular sweet spots when it comes to this.
The first is backing our tourism businesses.
Our small and emerging tourism businesses are at the heart of the visitor economy. When a local tour operator, restaurant, craft business, guesthouse or experience grows, the benefits extend well beyond that business. It supports employees, families, suppliers and entire communities.
That is why government must continue creating opportunities for businesses to learn, connect and grow. Our Learning Lounges, workshops and engagements with tourism operators are designed to do exactly that.
But these platforms are not simply about government telling businesses what to do. In fact, I believe the opposite is true.
Industry knows tourism best.
We need to listen to the people doing the work every day, understand what is happening on the ground and make sure those insights inform our policies and strategies. Good government should not operate in isolation from the businesses and people it seeks to support.
My second sweet spot is building better itineraries.
Getting someone to Cape Town is only half the job. Once they arrive, the real opportunity begins.
We need to encourage visitors to stay longer, experience more and explore more of our city.
Table Mountain, the V&A Waterfront and our other iconic attractions will always be important gateways into Cape Town. But they should also be gateways to everything else our city has to offer.
That means connecting visitors to our food, culture, markets, history, adventure and local experiences. It means creating pathways into places such as Langa and Gugulethu and supporting township tourism and other emerging products.
This is not about replacing our traditional attractions. It is about adding more to the basket.
If a visitor who would traditionally spend two days in Cape Town stays for three or four, and if that additional time takes them to another neighbourhood, another restaurant or another local experience, we have created more economic opportunity.
That is how tourism spending spreads.
And geographic spread matters.
We want tourism to benefit more communities across Cape Town, not because our established tourism areas have done anything wrong, but because our city has so much more to offer.
That requires us to get the mechanics right.
I keep coming back to three things: destination development, destination marketing and destination readiness.
We need to develop new tourism products and help businesses become bookable, accessible and marketable.
We need to market Cape Town more intelligently, using digital platforms, data and new technologies to understand audiences and reach the right people.
But my philosophy is simple: marketing must be backed up by conversion.
Impressions and likes are useful, but bookings, visitors, longer stays and spending are what ultimately create economic value.
And then there is destination readiness.
Once we create demand, Cape Town must be ready to deliver. Transport, public spaces, safety, accessibility and information all matter. Tourism cuts across government, because the things that make Cape Town a great place to live are often the same things that make it a great place to visit.
Then there is connectivity.
You cannot visit Cape Town if you cannot get here.
One of the parts of my job I particularly enjoy is engaging with airlines and partners to strengthen our international connectivity. Cape Town now has direct connections to 31 international destinations, with further opportunities to grow capacity in key markets.
Our focus must continue to include markets such as India, China, Africa, North America and South America.
Because greater connectivity means greater access, and greater access means greater economic opportunity.
The numbers tell an impressive story.
Cape Town welcomed around 2.8 million overnight visitors, while tourism contributed approximately R24.5 billion to our economy and supported around 106,000 jobs, nearly 7% of the city’s workforce.
But I always remind myself that these are not simply numbers.
Behind every tourism job is a person. Behind every small business is a livelihood. Behind every visitor spending money in Cape Town is an opportunity for someone else to earn an income.
Very soon, I will announce Cape Town’s new Tourism Strategy, which my team and I have been working on for some time. It is focused on removing barriers, introducing new reforms, strengthening destination development, marketing and readiness, and ensuring we get the mechanics of tourism right so that we can move beyond the traditional tourism circuit and spread opportunity across the city.
That is why I am ambitious about where we can go next.
I want to see Cape Town move beyond 5 million overnight visitors, R30 billion in tourism contribution and towards 200,000 tourism jobs.
But growth for the sake of growth is not enough.
The real measure of success will be whether more businesses participate, whether more communities benefit, whether more young people find opportunities and whether tourism spending reaches more parts of our city.
Ultimately, my bigger ambition is simple: to see a tourism-related opportunity in every household.
Starting Tourism Month in Langa, moving through Gugulethu, engaging with schools, tourism operators and communities is therefore particularly meaningful.
We cannot build the future of Cape Town tourism from a boardroom alone. We need to hear from the people who live in our communities and the people who operate businesses on the ground.
Communities should not simply be consumers of tourism. They must be participants in the tourism economy.
Cape Town has an extraordinary tourism offering. We have natural beauty, culture, history, food, adventure, creativity and people who know how to make visitors feel welcome.
But we cannot become complacent.
Our next chapter must be about backing businesses, building better itineraries, developing new experiences, strengthening connectivity and getting the fundamentals right.
Most importantly, it must be about government and industry working together, listening, learning and adapting.
Because Tourism Month should not only be about celebrating how far we have come.
It should be about deciding where we go next, and making sure that wherever tourism goes in Cape Town, opportunity goes with it.
