First cruise ship expected at the Cape Town Cruise Terminal (South Africa) on November 18

   October 13, 2021 ,   Cruise Industry

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country was moving to adjusted alert level 1 meaning that cruise tourism can resume.

The first cruise ship is expected to dock at Cape Town Cruise Terminal (V&A Waterfront) on November 18th.

36 more ship calls are expected between November 2021-May 2022, according to a spokesperson for the Cruise Cape Town initiative, and there was a hunger for cruises to resume. International voyages have already been operating globally under strict health protocols. 

Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier said:

“The reopening of cruise tourism is something we called for as one of several barriers that need to be urgently removed to ensure a successful summer season and provide much-needed relief for the tourism and hospitality sector, which has been hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. And so, we welcome the announcement and urge President Ramaphosa to consider easing further restrictions where it is safe to do so, such as allowing spectators at major sporting events.

"Our economic recovery is dependent on the recovery of the tourism and hospitality sector and so we will continue to do everything we can to support the sector to reopen safely so that we can save jobs in the Western Cape."

Port of Cape Town (South Africa)

During 2019 there were ~30M passengers which helped generate US$72 billion in direct cruise sector revenue at destinations around the world. The revenue also includes direct expenditures of the lines for goods and services in support of the cruise operations.