Cape Town International Airport (CPT) is closing the gap in OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) overseas arrivals as the Western Cape continues to outperform pre-pandemic international tourism recovery while Johannesburg remains below 2019 levels.
Year to date, JNB has welcomed about 490 000 overseas visitors compared with 460 000 through CPT – a difference of 30 000 arrivals.
“This is the closest the two airports have been when it comes to overseas and international arrivals,” Lee-Anne Bac, Advisory Partner: Tourism at BDO South Africa, told Travel News.
“Year-to-date overseas air arrivals through JNB are still under serious strain at 21% behind 2019 arrivals and 23% behind 2018,” she said.
In contrast, overseas arrivals through CPT are 30% higher than year-to-date 2019 levels.
Bac suggested that one of the main factors behind CPT’s strong overseas growth is the Western Cape Air Access Strategy. She has previously argued that Cape Town’s success stems from a whole-of-government approach to tourism with political leaders and the tourism industry working together to promote the destination.
However, she added, the data for CPT generally looks strong for the first few months of the year due to the seasonality of demand. Certain airlines reduce their schedules to Cape Town during the winter season while schedules to JNB remain more constant year-round.
Bac also noted that JNB remains the dominant gateway for African air arrivals. “Year to date, African arrivals through JNB increased by 13% compared to 2025 and 27% compared to 2019.”
CPT’s African arrivals increased, year to date, by 17% compared with 2025 and by 38% compared with 2019. However, this growth is from a much smaller base with CTIA handling less than 20% of JNB’s African arrivals.
Looking ahead, Bac noted that it is unlikely CPT will overtake JNB in overall arrivals.
“JNB is and will continue to be the main business and access hub for Southern Africa and an important entry for African travellers in particular. I foresee that it’s not an either/or situation but one of arrival growth for both airports. Each has its strengths and these need to be leveraged to grow our economy.”
