South Africa's department of tourism intends to coordinate the development of a strategy to maximize cruise tourism.
In a reply to a parliamentary question, tourism minister Derek Hanekom announced the strategy would aim to ensure more cruise ships docked for longer periods at the ports of the country.
Another purpose would be "to leverage economic spin-offs for tour operators, hotels, game reserves, lodges and attractions, and related industries." Collaboration would be sought with neighboring destinations along South Africa’s two coasts.
The cruise tourism development would promote the tourism sector's growth and related products like wine outlets, jewellery, arts and crafts in the proximity of arrival facilities. It would also create an opportunity to support trained chefs via an incubator program to run their own restaurants.
According to Hanekom, all relevant stakeholders, such as port cities, harbor authorities, provinces, tourism associations, local tourism authorities, would be involved in the development of cruise tourism maximization strategy.
Port Cape Town has a cruise terminal at V&A Waterfront. Last year, state-owned transport operator Transnet introduced the building of an R200 million cruise terminal in Durban by the KwaZulu Cruise Terminal company.
The new infrastructure is due to see cruise visits rise from 60 to over 150 per year, that should see passenger numbers increase from 200,000 to over 700,000 by 2040.