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Destinations · Cape Town · 25 Jun 2026 · 02:40 GMT+7

Cape Town’s shoulder season becomes the new high season

Off-peak arrivals are climbing as travellers chase value and space, the clearest sign yet that the calendar is shifting.
MV
By Marisol Vega
Destinations desk · 25 Jun 2026
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Cape Town
On the ground in Cape Town
Key takeaways
Shoulder-season arrivals to Cape Town rose 12% year-on-year while peak nightly rates eased 4%, a crossover that points to a lasting flattening of the city’s travel calendar.
For operators the shift is double-edged: smoother year-round demand against softer peak yields.
+12%
shoulder arrivals
SA Tourism
−4%
peak ADR
STR

Shoulder-season arrivals to Cape Town rose 12% year-on-year while peak nightly rates eased 4%, a crossover that points to a lasting flattening of the city’s travel calendar. Value and space, not weather, increasingly set the timing of a trip.

For operators the shift is double-edged: smoother year-round demand against softer peak yields. WorldTravelBrief will track arrivals against ADR by month to see whether the pattern holds beyond a single season.

Cape Town
On the ground in Cape Town
By Marisol Vega · WorldTravelBrief
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