Uber is a roaring success - and here's why traffic was so bad in Cape Town over the holidays

More than 500‚000 travellers arrived at Cape Town International Airport during December 2016.

This figure amounts to an 8% increase on the number of arrivals for December 2015.

The Western Cape government says its air-access strategy is the primary contributor to the increase in arrivals. The air-access strategy creates direct travel links from other countries to Cape Town International.

Beverley Schäfer‚ chairperson of the Standing Committee on Economic Opportunities and Tourism‚ was commenting after a briefing by Wesgro‚ Cape Town Tourism‚ AirBnB and Uber in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament today.

Through Wesgro‚ the Western Cape’s tourism‚ trade and investments agency‚ 30 conferences bids were won for the destination in 2016‚ with an economic impact estimated at R387 million. The committee also heard that as of January 2016‚ a total of 500‚000 people‚ nationally‚ made use of the Uber app.

This created 4‚000 economic opportunities for people. The briefing heard that nearly 19% of Uber drivers were not employed before.

Uber has also seen 55‚000 trips per month to the V&A Waterfront‚ while recording almost 70‚000 monthly trips to Cape Town International Airport.

"The growth of our tourism sector translates into the empowerment of the people of the Western Cape. We remain committed to growing this sector‚ so that more visitors‚ from across the spectrum feel free to enjoy the province‚" said Schäfer.