Western Cape Expects Impressive Summer Tourism, Says Minister Wenger

Western Cape's provincial minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, revealed Sunday that the South African province was expecting to witness impressive tourism this summer.

Wenger said this was the first time ever that the Western Cape province will receive more than one million inbound international seats during the summer season -- between December to February.

"Looking ahead, Cape Town International Airport's seat capacity for summer 2023/24 is estimated to increase by an impressive 25%, compared to the same period last year," she said, SA News reported. "This means that inbound international seats this summer will exceed 1 million, for the first time ever."

"Over the 2023/24 season, 250 tourism monitors will be deployed across the Western Cape to identified hotspots, and will be trained and equipped with mobile apps to link them to critical security services," she added.

Wenger further shared that the Department of Economic Development and Tourism and Cape Town Tourism will work on tourist-in-distress programs to ensure the people have a professional support team available, if required.

She went on to thank the South African Police Service, which has assured the Department of Tourism of the international visitors' safety during the summer.

According to the minister, her top priority was to ensure that it was easy for the tourists to enjoy vacation in the Western Cape and South Africa.

"I am determined to work with our national government partners to fix the inefficiencies. I therefore welcome the commitment from the Department of Home Affairs that the long overdue Remote or Digital Nomad Visa will be live by the end of March 2024," Wenger concluded.

South Africa witnessed a drop in the tourism sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the country is welcoming back tourists.

Earlier this month, Siboniso Duma -- who serves as a KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC -- asked the local government to create a memorable experience for tourists by investing in socio-economic infrastructure.

Tourism minister Patricia de Lille said earlier this year that the country was eager to bring in 21 million tourists to South Africa in the next seven years, adding that e-visas and improved air access would become a contributing factor to achieving this goal.

"We need to increase the volume and value of domestic and international tourism through the Tourism Recovery Plan," she said. "So, we are expediting the conversion of the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan as the basis for the Tourism Sector Master Plan."