Cape Town has won another major travel industry award, reaffirming the city’s status as one of the world’s top tourism destinations.

The city was declared Africa’s Best Travel Destination by World Travel Awards at a gala dinner held in Johannesburg yesterday, 7 July 2010. This is the third consecutive year that the city has won this prestigious award.

In November last year, Cape Town won the 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award in the Best Destination category.

The World Travel Awards, which were established in 1993, are seen as the travel industry’s ‘Oscars’. The awards are regarded as one of the best endorsements for a travel product.

Alderman Felicity Purchase, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development and Tourism and Mansoor Mohamed, the City’s Executive Director: Economic, Social Development and Tourism received the award on behalf of the city.

“This recognition is very important as it reaffirms Cape Town’s global positioning as a highly attractive tourism destination. The city boasts one of the highest concentration of major events on the African continent which includes the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Argus Cycle Tour, the Two Oceans Marathon and Design Indaba. The City of Cape Town will continue to use major events to attract visitors to Cape Town. Mega events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup are valuable for legacy projects whereas major events provide the annual recurring benefits,” said Mohamed.

Alderman Purchase said: “Cape Town is reaping the benefits of establishing and maintaining an excellent tourism infrastructure. The City of Cape Town is constantly enhancing the city’s tourism assets and we are building skills and improving opportunities in our tourism sector. All of these efforts support the City’s key strategy of infrastructure-led economic growth.”

Martin Pollack
www.capetown.gov.za