South Africa’s best-run city made R24.5 billion from tourists in one year

Cape Town’s tourism sector continues to thrive, with the city reporting record numbers of visitors, revenue, and growth over the last year.

This was recently revealed by the release of Cape Town Tourism’s 2025 Economic Value of Tourism report, which details the vital role tourism plays in the city’s economy.

In 2025 alone, Cape Town’s tourism sector generated approximately R24.5 billion from direct tourism spend, with as much as R19 billion of this coming from international visitors.

This accounted for 6.3% of Cape Town’s total gross value added (GVA), with the city’s tourism sector sustaining more than 106,000 jobs during that same period.

Cape Town MMC for Economic Growth and Tourism Alderman James Vos said these statistics reflected a growing demand for Cape Town as a tourist destination.

“Tourism is one of the most powerful tools we have for creating jobs and driving economic growth in Cape Town,” Vos said. “These results show that our strategy is working.”

“By focusing on the right markets and campaigns that convert interest into bookings, we are seeing stronger growth in international visitor numbers and spending.”

Data from Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) showed that a record 11.1 million two-way passengers travelled through Cape Town International Airport in 2025.

Of these, approximately 3.3 million were international passengers, representing a 7% year-on-year increase from the previous year.

Foreign overnight visitors to the city reached 1.44 million during this period, staying an average of 9.5 nights and spending around R1,390 per day.

Some of Cape Town’s top markets included the United Kingdom, which accounted for more than 210,000 visitors alone, as well as the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Australia.

Vos said he hoped to increase these numbers even further through the implementation of Cape Town’s new Tourism Framework 2030.

The major goals of this framework include increasing visitor spending to R34 billion, as well as doubling tourism jobs to over 200,000, by the year 2030.

“Cape Town does not stand still,” Vos said. “We invest, innovate and compete. My ambition is to see tourism create opportunities in every community and support more jobs across our city.”

Local tourism on a downward trend

While Cape Town continues to be a popular destination for international travellers, the city’s tourism report showed a stark contrast regarding domestic visitors.

Cape Town’s domestic tourism spend for 2025 sat at around R5.5 billion, down approximately 32% from R8 billion the year prior.

This represented a little under a quarter of the total R24.5 billion, which the city generated in tourism revenue during the previous year.

This is despite domestic overnight visitor numbers sitting very close to that of international overnight visitor numbers, at around 1.42 million local visitors.

Additionally, ACSA reported earlier in the year that domestic two-way passenger numbers at Cape Town International Airport had reached 7.8 million in 2025, a 7% year-on-year increase from 2024.

However, Cape Town Tourism’s report indicated that the average stay for domestic visitors had decreased from 5.2 nights in 2024 to 4.4 nights in 2025, with daily spend dropping to R882.

In an interview with Moneyweb, Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy said this reflected higher economic pressure on South African households rather than a reduced demand for travel.

“South African households have been under pressure since 2024, with rising inflation,” Duminy said. “Debt in households is still sitting at a high, so it’s a myriad of factors.”

“Cape Town has also become a lot more pricey in some areas, but not all of it. When you look at the overall basket of what you can do in Cape Town, that still remains quite affordable.”

According to Duminy, this decline in domestic tourism spend directly contributed to decreases in both tourism GVA and employment within the sector during 2025.

To combat this, Cape Town Tourism and the City of Cape Town have launched various initiatives to promote tourism in the city at both the domestic and international levels.

This includes exploring ways to make local tourism more affordable for South Africans, such as subsidised travel, lower flight costs, and cheaper accommodation.

“We acted immediately when we saw the results,” Duminy said. “We’ve ramped up our marketing plans, and we started our domestic campaign a lot earlier.”

“We are working with the industry in re-looking at costs, but also looking at how we can get more of those people employed within the sector.”