South Africa’s second largest city, Cape Town has become an increasingly popular destination for tourists within the last few years. Now, it is set to attract even more tourists as it has finally been granted permission to build its very own state of the art cruise terminal which will attract cruise passengers from all over the world.
The construction of a brand new cruise terminal will be a part of planned upgrades to the entire harbour area. The cruise terminal is expected to be completed in around two years and will be in the Duncan Dock’s E Berth area of the harbour.
The number of cruises visiting Cape Town at present has been limited, due to a ban on any cruise ships longer than 200 metres from berthing here. This meant that larger ships had to dock at the E and J berths at Duncan Dock, which are far from the attractions of the city and are industrial and unattractive for visitors. This meant that a number of cruise ships simply didn’t come to the city and instead visited other destinations instead.
Cruise Tourists to Cape Town will Significantly Boost the Economy
Last season, just 48 cruise ships visited Cape Town, which brought an estimated 28,000 cruise passengers to the city. This helps boost tourism and the economy of Cape Town and South Africa as a whole. A previous Cape Town report on cruise passenger spending estimated that a cruise ship carrying 2,000 passengers would spend around an incredible £130,000 in one day.
The cruise terminal will include arrival and departure facilities which will allow passengers to both begin and end their cruise in Cape Town. It will also be located close to the main tourist attractions and mean that cruise passengers can see the best that Cape Town has to offer quickly and easily.
Cape Town has many attractions for visitors to enjoy. These include Table Mountain National Park, many beautiful beaches many of which are popular with surfers, great architecture in the Cape Dutch style, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Two Oceans Aquarium and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens among many others. It’s a great place to visit and continues to be one of the most popular tourist destinations within the entire continent of Africa.
CEO of the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, David Green, said that the development of this proposed cruise terminal could increase the Waterfront’s contribution to GDP by a huge 51%. This is something which is sure to be welcomed by Cape Town residents and politicians alike.
Would you like to visit Cape Town as part of a cruise holiday once the new cruise terminal has been constructed? Do you think it will be a great boost to the local economy?
Thanks Emma
