Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden 2024 8th batch 02

Cape Town Tourism (CTT) is the official

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

agency for the city of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The organization is funded by the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town (; ) is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the metropolitan municipality (South Africa), local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of ...

metropolitan municipality, and is tasked with promoting and advocating for travel to Cape Town, by both locals and international visitors. The agency also operates Visitor Information Centers around Cape Town, a telephonic information center for information pertaining to travel to the city, and a website (Cape Town Travel), which features travel guides, maps, recommendations, and partner resources. Furthermore, Cape Town Tourism studies the local tourism market, reports on tourism data, and communicates tourism market information to industry, as well as the City, so as to inform development policies.

History

In May 2025, the City of Cape Town's Mayoral Committee recommended the appointment of Cape Town Tourism as the City’s official destination marketing organization for a further 3 years. At the time, the City's Mayoral Committee Member (MCM) for Economic Growth stated that working with Cape Town Tourism was one of the City’s most valuable in-roads to the tourism industry, and that CTT helps the City shape its tourism landscape in ways that create jobs and support its economy. The MCM further said that the tourism sector contributed an estimated R27.3 billion to Cape Town's local economy in 2023, supported approximately 91,000 direct jobs, and was a vital pillar of the city's growth strategy. Also in May 2025, at the African Travel Indaba, Cape Town Tourism launched its 2025/26 Visitor Guide. The guide highlights the city's diverse cultural offerings and commitment to inclusive tourism.

Operations

Cape Town Tourism is managed by a board of directors, and is funded directly by the

, which collaborates with Responsible Tourism Cape Town. As Cape Town's official Destination Marketing Organization, Cape Town Tourism operates an Information Center line for queries about the city. The organization also runs Visitor Experience Centers at

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the List of South African airports by passenger movements, second-busiest airport in South Africa and List of busiest airports in Afric ...

(CTIA) and

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens Kirstenbosch is a botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South African Natio ...

. Cape Town Tourism also operates a website dedicated to promoting Cape Town, and its many

attractions Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

. The website features an Official Guide to Cape Town, maps, weather information,

visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

information for

, information about attractions and potential areas to stay in in Cape Town, tour info, and a listing service for members. The Cape Town Travel website also facilitates

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

visits to the city, and interested parties can submit travel enquiries that Cape Town Tourism will respond to with recommendations. The agency also publishes a Travel Trade Directory, which serves as a quick reference guide to experiences for strategic partners, such as travel agents. Cape Town Tourism also collaborates with Wesgro - the tourism, trade, and investment promotion agency for the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province. The agency participates in numerous international marketing exhibitions and roadshows in key tourism source markets. Tourism in South Africa in general is managed by the Department of Tourism, under the

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) *Ministry of Touri ...

. Countrywide tourism marketing falls under the national marketing agency,

South African Tourism South African Tourism (frequently shortened to SA Tourism) is the official national marketing agency of the South African government, with the goal of promoting tourism in South Africa both locally and globally. Background of organization SA ...

. Cape Town Tourism, on the other hand, focuses solely on the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Annual Report

Cape Town Tourism also publishes an Annual Report pertaining to tourism-related matters in the city. The report tracks information such as airport arrivals, accommodation occupancy rates, visitor numbers for attractions, Cape Town's destination brand valuation, and LTBTQIA+ tourism.

Responsible Tourism

Cape Town Tourism follows the City of Cape Town's Responsible Tourism (RT) Policy (2009). In line with City policies, Cape Town Tourism's work focuses not just on economic growth, but also on creating positive social, economic, cultural, and environmental interactions in the city. Responsible Tourism focuses on ensuring that tourists leave their destination without having a negative impact on the environment. As such, Cape Town Tourism operates TravelWise Cape Town, an official source of information to help Cape Town on its journey to being a truly responsible tourism destination, while also maintaining its reputation for world-class tourism. Aspects of responsible tourism tracked include Cape Town's electricity supply, water strategy, and skills development.

Partners and members

Cape Town Tourism works closely with numerous partner organizations, including some of the city's main tourist sites. Partners include the

V&A Waterfront The V&A Waterfront, often referred to as The Waterfront and The V&A, is a mixed-use suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring upmarket residential apartments, a major shopping mall, a marina, and multiple large hotels. The Waterfront sit ...

MSC Cruises MSC Cruises () is a Swiss-Italian global cruise line based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1988 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). In addition to being the wor ...

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway is a cable car transportation system offering visitors a five-minute ride to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions with approximately ...

, the

Robben Island Museum Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrikaans name ''Rob ...

, Southern Sun Hotels,

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to ...

, and the Aquila Private Game Reserve. The agency engages in strategic partnerships in order to promote tourism in the city. One such example is the 2024 partnership with the local

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

team, whereby a "Love Cape Town" logo was featured on their official kit. Major members include

Airports Company South Africa Airports Company of South Africa Limited (ACSA) is majority(94.6%) State-owned enterprises of South Africa, state-owned South African airport management company. Founded in 1993, ACSA operates nine of South Africa's airports. The company is hea ...

(ACSA), Cape Point Vineyards, CapeNature, Club Mykonos Resort Langebaan, Hotel Sky, Hotel Verde Cape Town Airport, Inverdoon Game Reserve, Newlands Brewery, The Diamond Works, the Vineyard Hotel, and the

Two Oceans Aquarium The Two Oceans Aquarium is an aquarium located at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. The aquarium was opened on the 13 November 1995 and comprises several exhibition galleries with large viewing windows: ...

Cape Town's awards

The city of Cape Town has won numerous

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

in recent years, which have been promoted by Cape Town Tourism. These include Timeout Index's "11th Best City in the World", Conde Nast's "9th Best City in the World" and "10th Friendliest City in the World", a World Travel Award for "Africa's Leading City Destination", and Brand Finance City Index's "Best City Brand in Africa" award. In 2025, Cape Town was ranked as the world's best city by Time Out. In the publication's annual Best Cities in the World list, highlights for Cape Town included the city's beauty, happiness, and varied attractions. 2025's result was an increase from Cape Town's second-place rank the year before. Also in 2025, Cape Town was named as the world's top city for travel by

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

, for the 8th year in a row. In its Travel Awards, The Telegraph noted Cape Town's mountain-meets-sea landscapes, award-winning wine routes, culinary scene, and affordability for travelers. Cape Town Tourism itself has also been the recipient of numerous awards, including destination industry, marketing campaign, and technical innovation, and communications strategy awards, from the likes of Skift, City/Nation/Place Awards, the Digital Tourism Think Tank, and WTM Africa.

References

{{reflist Companies based in Cape Town