South Africa's tourism destination shows recovery

South Africa's popular tourism destination, the Western Cape Province showed a "solid recovery" in the tourism sector in April, the provincial government said Tuesday.

The province, which has Cape Town and other tourist attractions, saw a rise in air passenger traffic and "significant recovery rates" at key attractions, with some attractions recording 100 percent and more growth, it said in a statement.

The province said more than 448,000 people visited its 27 attractions in April, which amounts to 61 percent of the numbers in April 2019, while three sections of the iconic Table Mountain National Park showed over 100 percent year-on-year growth, and Agulhas National Park, including Africa's southernmost tip, received over seven times as many visitors as in April 2021.

International and domestic passengers both recovered to over 70 per cent this April and George Airport passengers fully recovered when compared to April 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Hotel occupancy rose to 52.4 percent from 37.9 percent in April 2021, representing a recovery rate of 87 percent when compared to April 2019, official statistics showed.

The figures were released as global airlines continued to reopen routes to Cape Town.

The tourism sector is a major job creator in Western Cape, contributing about 15.5 billion South African rands (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) and supporting 174,982 direct jobs in 2019, as reported by Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

Photo: Xinhua News Agency