Cape Town’s tourist sector was nearly back at pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. “In all our key [tourism] markets, in Cape Town, we are nearly recovered,” reported Western Cape tourism, trade and investment promotion agency Wesgro CEO Wrenelle Stander on Thursday evening. She was addressing a function to mark the start of direct flights by major US carrier Delta Air Lines (Delta) between its hub airport, in Atlanta in the US State of Georgia, and Cape Town.

She highlighted that the numbers of US tourists expected to visit the Mother City (as it is known in South Africa) during this peak summer (US winter) holiday season would actually exceed pre-pandemic levels. With the start of direct flights by Delta, Cape Town would now be directly connected to three destinations in the US.

She further stressed the role of the Cape Town Air Access initiative in attracting international airlines to Cape Town. It had brought three new airlines to serve the city, creating four new routes, over the past year. “The hard work has certainly paid off. The competition to attract airlines to a destination is quite intense.”

The Western Cape government was committed to strengthening the city’s and the province’s international connectivity, For every 100 passengers who arrived in Cape Town, one job was created. Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities Minister Mireille Wenger pointed out that the new route would create jobs and opportunities throughout the region, and not just in Cape Town. The launch of the new connection with the US was the result of years of hard work by all the concerned enterprises and agencies. It would further strengthen the already strong trade and investment relationship between the Western Cape and the US.

Cape Town Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, in his address, highlighted that, this month, some 30 000 domestic and international air passengers would be flying into and out of Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) every day. He (as did other speakers) praised CTIA and its personnel for their hard work and commitment in making this possible.

He pointed out that the latest national employment statistics had shown Cape Town to be the city that had seen the biggest decline in unemployment, “We’re passionate about creating jobs,” he affirmed. He reported that the city had launched an initiative to increase security this holiday season, particularly in popular tourist areas like Table Mountain and the central business district. He also noted that Atlanta was an “enormous” hub, meaning that most people in the US and Canada could now access Cape Town with the need for only one connection, Atlanta.

US Consul-General in Cape Town Todd Haskell observed that five years ago, there had not been a single direct flight between the US and Cape Town. Now there would be 12 a week, provided by two carriers. Moreover, Americans were the fastest growing tourist demographic into Cape Town. Nor should the US business people coming to check out business opportunities in the Mother City, the Western Cape, and the entire country, be forgotten.

“We’re very proud of the product that we have to offer to our customers,” affirmed Delta director sales Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India Paul Hassenstab. “We stand for bringing people together. We take that very seriously.”

The new service would be operated using Delta’s flagship airliner model, the Airbus A350, reported Delta GM Southern Africa Shareen Akoodie. In addition to passengers, the aircraft would carry cargo in their belly holds. The new direct Cape Town service would increase Delta’s number of weekly services between the two countries to ten (including the route from Atlanta to Johannesburg). “We remain committed to connecting the [African] continent with the US.”