At a VIP cocktail event last night overlooking Cape Town’s foreshore, the renewal of an already successful shared marketing agreement between New York City and the Mother City was marked by Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company.

CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy and Managing Director of Tourism Market Development for NYC & Company, Makiko Matsuda-Healy were in attendance, along with the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management including Tourism, Alderman James Vos, Cape Town Tourism Board members and captains of industry.

Opening the event, Alderman Vos noted the economic benefits that tourism brings to Cape Town. “Directly and indirectly employing almost 150 000 people, tourism contributes almost R15 billion to the local economy. Reducing unemployment is key to our vision for Cape Town. Partnerships like these increase the visibility of Cape Town as a global destination and ensure that we remain the go-to city on the African continent and globally for business, trade, and tourism.

“We will continue to build on these successes by working with industries and strategic partners to invest in projects and programmes that will drive demand and make business sense,” Alderman Vos added.

Matsuda Healy of NYC & Company said, “Originally formed in 2017, This partnership between Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company began three years ago and  presents an ongoing opportunity for Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company for both organizations to exchange our media spaces –  like bus shelters and LinkNYC kiosks in New York City and Cape Town Tourism’s mobile information centres, billboards, and MyCiti buses – in addition to the sharing of best practices in tourism marketing and collaborating on ways to boost travel between the two cities. NYC & Company is proud to renew this valuable partnership during what we have been calling a ‘Monumental Year’ for NYC.”

“The potential for what this agreement between our organisations could achieve though was quickly recognised and received an extra boost by the announcement that United Airlines will be launching a direct flight service between Cape Town and New York City beginning later this year. ” Matsuda Healy said.

Duminy highlighted the direct economic benefits of the NYC & Company and Cape Town Tourism partnership saying, “The first direct flight between Cape Town and New York is scheduled to arrive in Cape Town on 16 December and is expected to bring in 24 000 inbound passengers – growing travelers from the USA by 20%. Looking solely at the direct route, in its first year of operation, it’s expected to create some 900 jobs and see a R421 million boost in tourism spend by 2021.”

The event was an opportunity for both Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company to highlight the areas of collaboration during this next phase of the partnership.

“Looking to how we are planning on marketing our respective destinations, it quickly became apparent that both parties are looking to ensure that tourism activities are done sustainably. It’s quite simple: the backbone to Cape Town’s popularity as a global tourist destination is the natural splendour we are blessed with, so if we do not develop our tourism industry along sustainable parameters, there will come a day when there is no tourism industry,” Duminy said.