CAJ News: Cape Town revels in multiple World Travel Awards gongs

THE City of Cape Town is basking in the glory of being recognized at the 28th World Travel Awards.It has been awarded the World’s Leading Festival and Events Destination.

It has received the accolade for the second consecutive year.

The South African coastal city beat Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Cannes (France), Danang (Vietnam), and Dubai (UAE) for the award.

Fellow South African city, Durban, London (England), Moscow (Russia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Singapore and Sydney (Australia) were also nominated.

Making the achievement the more inspiring is that it comes despite the fact that the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sector were one of the first in the tourism industry to be impacted through cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The City of Cape Town remains the host destination of choice for well-known local and international events such as the Kirstenbosch concerts, the Cape

Town Jazz Festival, Rocking the Daisies, and the Cape Town marathon.

“It is thanks to the City of Cape Town administration’s relentless and dedicated work that the City is attractive for events and venues,” stated Manny de Freitas, Shadow Minister of Tourism for the Democratic Alliance (DA).

DA controls the City of Cape Town.

On the continental front, Cape Town has been awarded Africa’s Leading City Destination 2021. Cape Town International Airport was named Africa’s Leading Airport.

Table Mountain is Africa’s Leading Tourist Attraction.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, two Cape Town venues – Cause Effect Cocktail Kitchen and the Art of Duplicity – were listed this week in the World’s Best 100 Bars list.

These venues have been ranked 75 and 86 respectively.

The Art of Duplicity moved up two spots from 88 in the previous year.

These awards are hailed as important as they translate into more jobs and a contribution to our economic growth.

“It is thus important that other cities make the concerted effort, in the same way that Cape Town does, to make their cities attractive to local and international tourists,” Freitas said.