Cape Town and the Western Cape are looking forward to a great summer season, according to tourism experts.

Addressing Cape Town Tourism's annual executive meeting Geoffrey Lipman, special adviser to the president of the World Tourism Organisation, said Africa was entering a new era of tourism with unlimited potential for growth.

He predicted that income from tourism to the continent would double over the next 10 years and the ultimate aim was to triple it. Results show that for the first quarter of this year, Cape Town and the Western Cape had 466 957 tourism arrivals.

During the same period last year, the arrivals figure was 447 705. This, in turn, was a growth of 7,4 percent over the same period in 2003.

Earlier this year, travel agents overseas reported a 20 percent increase in inquiries from people showing interest in visiting Cape Town and the Western Cape.

British airline Virgin Atlantic Airways will increase its weekly flights between London and Cape Town from two to five in anticipation of an expected increase in travellers between the two cities.

Cape Town Tourism head Mariette du Toit said that although the city had had "a long and tough winter", the summer season was "looking very good". "Bookings for hotels and other accommodation in the city have been very positive and, judging from the information we have received from our visitors centres, the number of visitors has increased over the last couple of weeks."

Du Toit said reservation statistics had increased by between 20 percent and 35 percent over the past two weeks and "should increase by between 50 percent and 60 percent as the season approaches".

There was also a large increase in the number of people booking at the last minute and on arrival in the city, she said.

Technology has played a large role in boosting the number of tourists visiting Cape Town, said Du Toit. "People are using our new Internet facilities much more and we are seeing a much more sophisticated visitor who wants easier access to information and reservation services."

(Source: Cape Argus, September 30 2005)

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