Statement by the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos.

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of attending the launch of an incredible new campaign by Cape Town Tourism (CTT), the City’s official Destination Marketing Organisation.

Called ‘Find Your Freedom’, it is a first-of-its-kind concept from a destination marketing group. People are not simply viewing the platform – they are interacting with it. You begin by choosing your character – a Fearless Foodie, Nature Warrior or Urban Adventurer – and thereafter decide which part of Cape Town you would like to experience through a series of first-person perspective videos. As a foodie, for example, you can pop into the award-winning La Colombe Restaurant or join a local cooking class.

As the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, which includes the tourism portfolio, it gives me great pride to work with CTT’s team in realising a campaign that is so unique.

Tourism is of vital importance to Cape Town’s economic landscape. In December, tourism contributed R800 million to this metro’s economy and R5,8 billion in all of 2021.

Importantly, tourism sustains the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Capetonians across multiple industries.

It’s the kind of initiative that will kick tourism to Cape Town into high gear. Already we have witnessed a great deal of recovery from the national lockdown. I’m happy to share that Cape Town International Airport is reporting a 71% recovery rate for domestic passenger volumes in March and 62% for international travellers for the same period in 2019. The recovery rate for air traffic movements this past month is now at 80% domestically and 69% internationally.

This is a most positive update. I hope to see not only a 100% recovery rate but that we will surpass the figures seen in 2019. I believe that we will achieve this with campaigns such as this latest one from CTT as it will entice people the world over to find their freedom in the Mother City.

Source: City Of Cape Town