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This city has long been a place that captivates travellers, entices investors, and drives economic opportunity. But as we all know, success in tourism (or any industry) doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by design.

A few years ago, I realised that if we truly wanted to take Cape Town’s visitor economy to the next level, we needed a laser-focused approach that would deliver real, tangible results, achieving both volumes and values.

That’s how the City of Cape Town developed the Tourism Development Framework, designed to boost tourism, create jobs, and attract investment.

They say a great plan fits on one hand, so here are the City’s five key points to get things moving:

• More Flights – Expanding the 31 destinations currently flying to Cape Town to increase access, attract more visitors, and drive economic growth.
• More Cruise Liners – Motivating for the enhancement of port facilities to attract more ships and position Cape Town as a premier cruise destination.
• More Conferences – Securing global events to cement Cape Town as a leading business tourism hub.
• Facilitating Geographic Spread – Working with tourism stakeholders to promote a wider range of experiences, ensuring more communities benefit from visitor spending.
• Targeted Marketing – Driving destination awareness with high-impact campaigns.

Each of these points works together, reinforcing the bigger picture: if we want more visitors, we must make it easier for them to get here. And that brings me to one of the most critical aspects of my advocacy work, Open Skies.

Driving Open Skies: A Game-Changer for Tourism and Investment

For too long, South Africa’s aviation sector has been held back by outdated restrictions on flights. Protectionist policies and bureaucratic red tape have made it harder and more expensive for airlines to operate, limiting competition, pushing up ticket prices, and ultimately reducing the number of visitors we can welcome.

That’s why I have been a vocal advocate for an Open Skies policy, making direct submissions to national government to push for a more competitive and accessible air travel market.

The data speaks for itself: 

• Liberalising air routes could create 155 000 new jobs and contribute R24 billion to our GDP annually.
• For every 100 international air travellers, two local jobs are created (2022, Wesgro report)
• Cape Town International Airport exceeded its 2024 passenger targets by 125%, proving the demand is there.

We have already seen what happens when we open the door to more flights. Thanks to our Air Access initiative, Cape Town has added new direct routes to key markets, increasing passenger volumes and boosting local businesses. But we can’t stop there. If we want to compete globally, we need full-scale Open Skies reform to unlock the true potential of our tourism sector.

Strengthening Global Connections

The City has just returned from a trade mission to India, where we engaged in high-level meetings with tourism leaders and airlines to strengthen our tourism and business ties. A key focus of these discussions was to motivate for a direct flight between India and Cape Town, a move that would significantly boost visitor arrivals and trade opportunities.

I truly believe in the power of air access to grow city economies, and I have personally been involved in shaping our air access strategy. Today, I am proud to say that Cape Town is currently connected to 31 destinations worldwide, with 217 international flights landing every week during the current peak period. This is the power of proactive aviation advocacy in action.

Investing in the Future of Travel

Of course, Open Skies is just one piece of the puzzle. We also need the right infrastructure to support growth.

That’s why we’re pushing for the expansion of our airport capacity, the modernisation of our ports, and improvements to our rail network. While these fall outside the City’s direct control, we are actively driving efforts to ensure that Cape Town remains not only a stunning destination, but also an accessible and efficient one.

Tourism is not just about selling a destination; it’s about creating a seamless experience, from the moment a traveller books their ticket to the moment they arrive and explore our incredible city. That’s why we’re investing in place marketing, trade promotion, and tourism training to ensure that every visitor leaves with a positive experience, and comes back for more.

A Call to Action

The time for half-measures is over. We must act decisively to expand flight access, modernise our infrastructure, and support the businesses that make Cape Town a world-class destination.

I'm proud to be leading this charge, working with industry partners, government, and investors to make it happen. But I need all of you on board, because when we work together, we don’t just grow tourism; we grow communities, we grow businesses, and we grow opportunities for the people who call this city home.

Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to confirm to this esteemed audience that our City government is currently rolling out the biggest budget in its history to ensure that Cape Town is ready for the future.

We're making massive investments in water infrastructure to build long-term resilience against droughts and climate change.

At the same time, we are leading the charge in energy security, bringing independent power generation online to shield businesses and residents from load shedding.

Our mobility projects are expanding public transport and road networks to keep Cape Town moving, while our safety initiatives are deploying more law enforcement resources to protect communities and businesses alike.

All of this is driven by a single focus: getting the basics right so that Cape Town remains a great city to live in, because a great place to live is a great place to visit. And for businesses, our new Ease of Doing Business Index is setting the benchmark for cutting red tape and making it simpler to operate in Cape Town. When we create the right conditions, investment, tourism, and economic growth follow.

Cape Town is open for tourism, open for business, and with the right policies in place, we’ll soon be flying higher than ever before.

Issued by the City of Cape Town