Welcome back to Cape Town!

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

It is with great excitement that I welcome back the first international flights to Cape Town today. The inaugural flight was the Emirates flight from Dubai, which arrived just after 13:00.

I would like to congratulate our award-winning Cape Town International Airport for their commitment to and implementation of world-class health and safety measures to ensure the safety of employees and travellers.

I’d love to welcome international guests from all countries for leisure purposes by implementing the very same protocols currently in place for business travellers from high-risk countries. I will engage my national counterparts to lobby for this, especially as we head into our peak visitor season.

What is disappointing is how long it has taken for National Government to give certainty to our desperate tourism sector on which countries would be considered high, medium and low risk. Very little planning has been possible and frankly, this may compromise the recovery.

In spite of this, we are bouncing back. The City will continue to fund the successful Air Access team to ensure we expand current flight routes and attract more visitors.

Local and international visitors are the lifeblood of our economy as they bring in much-needed revenue and support thousands of jobs in Cape Town.

Now the real work begins. My team at the City of Cape Town and I will work harder than ever to implement the strategies we have developed to get our tourism and related sectors thriving again.