Villiers

• Between 2000 and 2018 the number of tourist arrivals climbed from 491,439 to nearly 6 million.
• One group of people who have been among the hardest hit are the country’s informal traders.
• We conducted research to understand the impact of tourism numbers on informal traders.
• The findings paint a sombre picture of the challenges facing informal traders in the city.
• These include supporting informal traders, but in a way that doesn’t burden them with bureaucracy and red tape.

Traders and tourism in Cape Town

• Informal traders in Cape Town offer an array of unique tourism products such as arts, crafts and leather goods.
• Some traders relied on tourists for as much of 95% of their business and turnover.
• Link to local market: The traders had little choice but to pivot towards products appealing to the local market.
• The return of the tourists: Traders firmly believed that the return of the international tourists was the only solution for the long term sustainability of their informal micro-enterprises.

Next steps

• Our study was designed to look specifically at the effect of COVID on the livelihoods of informal traders.
• Nevertheless, the insights we gained provide valuable insights into the vulnerabilities of informal traders dependent on tourism beyond the immediate effects, and aftermath, of the pandemic.


A bottom-up approach is needed. A one-size-fits-all top-down approach will produce unintended consequences of overburdening the informal traders with unnecessary red tape. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to Vickey de Villiers for her valuable contribution, which served as the foundation for this article. Her Master’s dissertation has been instrumental in shaping the insights presented here.

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