Cape Town and the Western Cape’s Cruise Tourism Season Resumed with the arrival of the MSC Orchestra Cruise Liner.
The Cruise Cape Town Initiative – a strategic project housed within Wesgro – welcomed the resumption of Cruise Tourism with the arrival of the MSC Orchestra on local shores on 12 January 2022.
Having made her way from Durban to Port Elizabeth, and then to Cape Town’s recently revamped terminal. The Mother City and surrounding regions benefited from the disembarking passengers. The ship then embarked passengers and departed for a 5-night cruise and returned to Cape Town on 18 January 2022.
Globally, the demand for cruising reflected a 20.5% growth in the last five years, with the Cape Town Cruise Terminal performing exceptionally well with 206 Cruise ships recorded over the last 5 cruise seasons (2015-2019). Vessels which docked at the Cape Town Cruise Terminal during the November 2018 – April 2019 cruise season collectively contributed over R2 million in spend from ship crew members. The highest spend was linked to hotels, handling processing, transport and meals for crew members.
“Through attracting more cruise ships to the Mother City, other passenger ports in South Africa and on the Continent stand to capitalise on cruise tourism. ”
“Despite getting off to a slow start because of COVID regulations and Omicron, the Cruise Cape Town Initiative remains dedicated to promoting and enabling this highly profitable tourism sector in the upcoming months – to benefit our province, the rest of the country and the African continent,” concluded Wrenelle Stander, Wesgro CEO and official spokesperson for the Cruise Cape Town Initiative.
