Cape Town has scored the first golden goal of the soccer World Cup: a second daily passenger flight from London due to the Mother City's sky-rocketing popularity among British tourists.

British Airways this week announced results of a passenger survey that identified Cape Town as Brits' favourite holiday destination.

As a result, it will offer a second daily flight between Heathrow and Cape Town, before the 2010 summer holiday season.

The additional Boeing 777 flight is great news for Cape Town's tourism sector, which is looking to maintain the momentum of having successfully hosted eight World Cup matches.

Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du-Toit-Helmbold said: "An additional daily British Airways flight is very good news. Cape Town's popularity has been rising steadily over the past few years, but with all of the positive 2010 World Cup coverage and word-of-mouth recommendations, the city's popularity has sky-rocketed.

"We have capacity, we have great offerings and we have exceptional attractions. What we must make sure of now is that we live up to our visitors' expectations and provide them with experiences that they will not forget."

The announcement of the additional flight coincides with other good news. A survey of World Cup visitors showed 69.7% of them found Cape Town's notorious winter weather better than expected. And the Cape Town Tourism website experienced a massive increase in traffic over the World Cup period - from 60000 hits in May to 135000 hits during the four-week tournament.