South Africa’s Garden Route coastal towns benefit from Cape Town cruise growth

The Western Cape’s rapidly growing cruise tourism sector has had a knock-on effect all along the coast of the Garden Route, with smaller up-and-coming ports such as Mossel Bay seeing increased port calls during the most recent cruise season.

During the 2023/24 cruise season, which ran from November to May, some 65 cruise calls were reported in the Western Cape, according to Tourism Update, attracting an estimated 90,000 two-way passengers to the Garden Route. 

This has been a boon for the regions economy, with each cruise ship injecting around R2 million into the local economy, while smaller cruise ports such as the coastal town of Mossel Bay saw 26 scheduled visits during the season.

More than 16,000 cruise tourists visited Mossel Bay, generating around R3 million for the town’s economy.

Lieschke Steven-Jennings, COO of Mossel Bay Tourism, said that the arrival of these cruise ships in Mossel Bay was a joy to behold but, more importantly, an invaluable part of promoting the town’s stellar rise on international tourism maps.

“Building key relationships during this time was vital to the success of cruise tourism for our area,” he said. “Contributing to the allure is the overall growth and products on offer in Mossel Bay. It is no longer a small sail-by coastal town but fast becoming one of the favourite destinations to anchor.” 

The Western Cape has benefitted significantly this season from the security crisis in the Red Sea, which prompted dozens of cruise lines to reposition ships around Africa rather than through the Suez Canal.

Like Durban, Cape Town has seen itself added to cruise itineraries and technical stops at the last minute throughout the season, but the positive experience of South Africa’s recently upgraded cruise infrastructure will no doubt prompt some cruise lines to return.

MSC Cruises accounted for the bulk of cruise calls in South Africa’s ports during the season, with MSC Splendida homeporting in both Durban and Cape Town, carrying a total of 120,000 passengers during the season.

MSC Cruises SA Managing Director Ross Volk said that the cruise line was eagerly anticipating the return of the newly-renovated MSC Musica to South Africa for the next season.

Volk told Bizcommunity that the current trends were looking positive, with many South Africans seeing cruising as the best value proposition for holidaying because of its’ all-inclusive nature.

“Cruising is not just great value, it’s also increasingly being seen as a way to experience destinations in a new way, to get under the skin of the locals, so to speak,” said Volk.

“This emphasis on experience is particularly a mark of Generation X and Millennials, who are turning towards cruising in greater numbers.” he added.

As more South Africans take local cruises, growing the cruise source market in the country, it will encourage more cruise lines to homeport in Cape Town, and possibly even Durban, as the presence of a robust home market mitigates the risk associated with relying purely on fly-cruise uplift.