Cape Town is stepping up efforts to attract more visitors from China, launching an expanded digital marketing drive and leveraging recent visa reforms to tap into one of the world’s largest outbound travel markets. According to city officials, the first two phases of a destination campaign on WeChat generated over 20 million impressions between September 2024 and October 2025.
Despite China accounting for a massive share of global tourism, Chinese travellers spent roughly US$ 250 billion abroad in 2024 – South Africa attracted just 41,651 Chinese visitors last year. But Cape Town’s strategy aims to change that. As part of its renewed focus, the city plans to broaden its digital outreach beyond WeChat, publishing Chinese-language articles, destination videos and travel guides on multiple major platforms to better reach and engage prospective Chinese travellers.
This digital push is being paired with structural reforms, most notably the national Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), launched in early 2025. The scheme has significantly simplified the visa process for Chinese and Indian tourists, allowing vetted tour operators to submit group visa applications online and receive rapid digital approvals. In its first wave, the initiative helped bring in the first group of Chinese visitors under the new system to Cape Town.
City leaders believe this combined approach – streamlined visas and targeted digital outreach, could transform Cape Town’s tourism economy. Campaign data shows the digital efforts are already resonating, and officials say the city is ready to welcome more first-time and repeat travellers from China (and beyond) as part of a broader post-pandemic rebound.
Beyond tourism, this trend highlights a broader pattern in Sino-South African relations: deepening cultural and economic ties through travel, people-to-people exchanges, and the opening of new pathways for business, education, and trade. As Cape Town reaches out to China’s outbound market, it signals both a welcome and a strategic invitation: come see us, and let’s build connections together.
