Firm foundation laid for partnership with Chinese to boost tourism figures

19 January 2020

Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato and I were honoured and thrilled to host a delegation from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China. This gave us the opportunity to explore options to grow the number of tourists from China. We also discussed the possibility of increasing trade by securing Chinese investment in our city to boost employment.

One of my priorities is to ensure my directorate drives growth in our economy to create more job opportunities for residents. We are constantly on the lookout for new ways to grow the depth and diversity of the city’s economic landscape.

Tourism is a key sector for Cape Town and accounts for roughly 300 000 jobs in our city. Given the great potential for growth and employment in this sector, the City is fully committed to investing in programmes and initiatives that foster economic growth in this industry. 

The City of Cape Town has a long and fruitful relationship with China. We work closely together to promote travel and trade benefits and to attract foreign direct investment into the city.

To strengthen this cooperation, the City government has signed Sister-City Agreements with four Chinese cities, representing the most city-to-city agreements, with China, on the African continent. Currently, we have agreements with the cities of Huangshan, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Wuhan.

The Enterprise and Investment Department played a significant part in assisting the Chinese multinational major appliance and electronics manufacturer, Hisense, to set-up shop in Cape Town. Since then, the company has even expanded and exported the products made in Cape Town, to the rest of Africa.

Suntech Power Holdings from China, specialising in solar energy, invested in the electronic components sector in a logistics, distribution and transportation project valued at R127 m, creating an estimated 60 jobs for residents.

Collaboration with cities across the world and our ability to focus on the catalytic sectors, which drive demand and make business sense, is what makes our business ecosystem such a success.

I also had the opportunity to represent the City at the Chinese New Year celebration hosted on Thursday night by the Chinese Consul General, Mr Lin Jing. I would like to wish the Chinese community a happy and prosperous New Year.

I will continue to explore all avenues and partnerships which will make a real difference for the residents of Cape Town by increasing economic growth and creating more jobs.

Issued by James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, City of Cape Town, 19 January 2020