The Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk published the winners of their Travel Awards yesterday, and Cape Town is surging upwards. Leaping 5 steps closer to the top, Cape Town was voted 2nd Favorite Overseas City for British travelers, only beat by Sydney.
Personally I am not surprised, as I have written in earlier posts, Cape Town is my favorite travel destination city in the world. But for South Africa this is great news. They need as much good publicity as possible both to keep their tourism industry growing and to warm up for the next summer’s huge event, the FIFA World Cup. But luckily there is no lack of favorable publicity; South Africa seems to have been riding a wave of popularity and awards lately, and just the fact that they were chosen as host for the 2010 World Cup is a huge statement by itself!
In August, Travel and Leisure published their World’s Best Awards and South Africa (actually Africa as a whole) performed extremely well! African luxury lodges and resorts ran away with 8 of the top 15 prices in the category Top 100 Hotels Overall! And voted number one was South Africa’s Bushman’s Kloof. Other awards owned by Cape Town are the prize for Africa’s Best Travel Destination (second year in a row) at the World Travel Awards show in Durban and Best Entertainment Destination at a luxury travel show in Switzerland.
All these awards and flattering words seem to encourage Cape Town to embrace the potential of their visitors. The Cape Town Tourism organization has set the lofty goal of doubling the value of tourism in Cape Town by 2020! I don’t know how likely that is to happen, but with the right efforts I don’t doubt that the numbers of visitors will keep growing at a great pace. I just hope it will do so in a sustainable and responsible way. And a good sign in that category is that South Africa was listed in the Top 10 Ethical Travel Destinations in the 2008 Ethical Traveler Report and South Africa’s Bulungula Lodge was voted number 2 in the Guardian’s Ethical Travel Awards yesterday.
For more information you can check out our list of 10 Tips to a Successful Cape Town Vacation or go visit the new website created by Cape Town Tourism at CapeTown.travel.
I am not surprised at all that Cape Town has been voted one of the favourite overseas destinations for British travellers. It’s an absolute stunning place and it offers something for everyone. No matter if you like adventure, culture, history, shopping or just lazing at the beach – you will find it in the Mother City.
The Fifa World Cup will draw a lot of attention to Cape Town and South Africa. Many people that haven’t previously visited, will either go there for the World Cup itself or will hear from friends and family how great Cape Town and the country is. So I could imagine that Cape Town Tourism’s goal of doubling the value of tourism by 2020 is definitely achievable!
Cape Town is such a vibrant and wonderful city. I love it. Only problem is it can get pretty windy sometimes. But other than that its perfect!
Cape Town is not only the most popular international tourist destination in South Africa, it is Africa’s main tourist destination even overtaking Cairo. This is due to its good climate, natural setting, and well-developed infrastructure. The city has several well-known natural features that attract tourists, most notably Table Mountain.
Table mountain is what makes cape town for me. I’ve been traveling to other countries such as India and when returning the sight of table mountain makes me feel Home Sweet Home. If your in Cape Town take the cable car up Table Mountain, it’s and extra-ordinary experience