Cape Town Draws 121,000 Visitors in February as European Arrivals Dominate
Cape Town International Airport welcomed 121,612 visitors in February 2026, with Europeans accounting for 72.5 per cent of all overseas tourists arriving in South Africa that month, according to StatsSA's International Tourism release. Of the 161,707 European arrivals recorded nationally, 90,427 flew directly into Cape Town. The United Kingdom and Germany were the leading source markets, contributing 45,404 and 39,866 tourists respectively, followed by the Netherlands and France. North America accounted for 12.6 per cent of overseas arrivals, with Asia at 7.1 per cent - including 3,792 direct arrivals into Cape Town. In total, 2,689,619 travellers passed through South African ports in February 2026, comprising 594,114 South African residents and 2,095,505 foreign travellers, with 94.6 per cent of overseas tourists arriving by air.
Economist Dawie Roodt highlighted a growing diversification of source markets, pointing to rising visitor numbers from BRICS nations including Russia, China, and India as living standards in those countries improve. He cautioned, however, that Middle East tensions pose a risk to traditional European inflows and stressed the importance of marketing South Africa more aggressively in emerging markets. Economist Ulrich Joubert noted that strong tourism performance supports the rand through net foreign currency inflows, with downstream benefits for inflation containment and household debt costs. Cape Town's tourism growth continues to be underpinned by its air access network, which spans more than 30 global destinations and over 200 international flights per week.
Source: Cape Argus
