Arrivals at Cape Town International over the Christmas holiday season were up compared with the same time last year, heralding a bumper season for the Mother City.
International and regional arrivals grew by more than 3 000 passengers in November last year, while domestic passenger numbers increased by a massive 11 500.
Monwabisi Kalawe, Cape Town International general manager, said the international arrivals figures are particularly encouraging given concerns that price increases and the stronger rand would discourage overseas tourists.
He said the growth is off a strong base, given that Cape Town International enjoyed its best year ever during 2002/03. The trend was sustained during December and Kalawe said that while domestic traffic has declined marginally since October, competitive pricing and an increase in frequencies have contributed to a consistent and significant increase over the previous financial year.
“We also know that a proportion of international passengers arrive in Johannesburg and connect to Cape Town on domestic flights.”
South Africa continues to be a popular destination for the Brits and the air routes into the country occupy two of the top 10 spots on British Airways’s list of the most popular long-haul destinations this festive season.
Cape Town rates fifth after New York, Miami, Dubai and Los Angeles, while Johannesburg is 10th.
The list is based on the top-selling long-haul routes from the United Kingdom.
Charles Forsyth, British Airways general manager, says Cape Town could have been higher up the list had the airline been able to operate more flights to the city.
“Our flights are virtually fully booked, which is why we’d have liked to operate double daily services to Cape Town. Unfortunately, owing to bilateral restrictions, we’re only able to operate the same schedule we did last year.”
The airline’s top 10 long-haul destinations are:
1. New York
2. Miami
3. Dubai
4. Los Angeles
5. Cape Town
6. Orlando
7. Boston
8. Hong Kong
9. San Francisco
10. Johannesburg