December worldwide arrivals climb 11% as CTT’s campaigns flip inspiration into bookings.
In the identical week that the Matric Class of 2025 acquired their outcomes and a brand new wave of Grade 1 learners took their first steps into college, Cape City is celebrating a milestone of its personal: a strong festive season surge that indicators a metropolis in demand and a tourism technique that’s working.
Based on Airports Firm South Africa (ACSA), 1.12 million two-way passengers travelled by means of Cape City Worldwide Airport (CTIA) in December 2025, an 8% enhance on December 2024. Worldwide arrivals rose 11%, with regional arrivals up 13% and home arrivals 6% over the identical interval.
“Campaigns don’t simply win awards, they fill planes” – Enver Duminy.
Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape City Tourism, says the festive efficiency is the results of a few years of devoted effort, very like the matriculants whose success the nation is celebrating this week.
“Our Matric Class of 2025 didn’t go due to one good examination paper; they obtained right here by means of years of exhausting work, assist and sacrifice,” says Duminy. “Tourism is similar. An 11% leap in December worldwide arrivals doesn’t occur in a single day. It’s the results of long-term planning with the Metropolis and our companions, and of campaigns that transfer individuals from dreaming to reserving.”
“Campaigns don’t simply win awards, they fill planes. MyCapeTown and 50 Issues to do in Cape City for Underneath R50 present locals and South Africans that they will have a world-class vacation and not using a world-class price range. One Small World places Cape City on display alongside New York and Berlin. Go All Out and Limitless Cape City inform LGBTQ+ travellers and guests with totally different entry wants that it is a metropolis that sees them, welcomes them and designs for them.”
Duminy says the beginning of the varsity yr is a reminder that tourism’s precise take a look at is long-term:
“As Grade 1 learners (the Class of 2038) stroll into school rooms this week, we’re very aware that the selections we make as we speak should open doorways for them twelve years from now. A robust festive season is nice information, however our actual purpose is a tourism economic system that’s nonetheless creating alternatives after they matriculate.”
Past the runway: tens of millions in movement
The airport numbers are just one a part of the story. Over the festive interval:
Desk Mountain welcomed 6% extra guests than in December 2024, regardless of difficult wind situations.
Robben Island arrivals elevated by 10%.
Chapman’s Peak Drive recorded an 11% rise in guests.
Cape Level reached capability on a number of peak days.
Add to this cruise passengers docking within the harbour, road-trippers driving in from throughout South Africa and the area, and 1000’s of Capetonians taking part in tour information for visiting buddies and kin. The image is obvious: tens of millions of individuals had been out within the metropolis, spending their time and restricted funds in eating places, points of interest, retailers and neighbourhood experiences.
For travellers, the emotional connection is what lingers.
“There is no such thing as a place like Cape City,” says Ciali Browne, a customer from New Zealand. “The surroundings is unreal, however truthfully, the individuals made my journey. Everyone seems to be heat, welcoming and pleased with the place they’re from. It’s the form of place that stays with you lengthy after you allow, and I’m already planning a return journey.”
For native entrepreneurs, the festive season is each a payoff and a launchpad.
“We had days the place we had been absolutely booked, with many visitors from the Netherlands,” says Buntu Matole, co-founder of ABCD Ideas in Khayelitsha. “Folks cherished getting out of town centre and into native neighbourhoods – properties, colleges, on a regular basis life. Bookings for the months forward are already trying sturdy. Our focus now could be to deepen partnerships, so guests keep longer and make investments extra locally.”
Each new route, each marketing campaign should translate into actual clients for our lodges, eating places, points of interest and small companies.
“This progress is not any accident, it’s by design” – Alderman James Vos.
The Metropolis of Cape City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Financial Development and Tourism, Alderman James Vos, says these early festive-season figures, along with town and airport’s current awards, replicate a tourism economic system that’s being purposefully developed.
“An 11% enhance in worldwide arrivals in December, a document 11.1 million passengers over the previous yr, and international recognition for each town and the airport present that nothing occurs by probability, however by design,” says Vos. “By way of the Select Cape City campaigns, our partnership with Cape City Tourism, and the Cape City Air Entry initiative, we’re shaping demand that helps airways, funding, and job creation. Tourism already employs almost 7% of Cape City’s workforce, and my focus is on attaining at the very least one tourism-related job in each family throughout our metropolis.”
A full high-season efficiency replace, together with lodging and spend information, will likely be shared in Quarter 2 of 2026. Nonetheless, the early indicators are clear: demand is robust, the model is resonating, and the advantages are being felt from the CBD to Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Langa, the Winelands and past.
