A R7 million Western Cape tourism fund is positioning small businesses and regional destinations for growth by unlocking investment, improving experiences and supporting sustainable local jobs.
The Western Cape Tourism Growth Fund is being used as a catalyst to strengthen tourism businesses, improve attractions and help more destinations participate in the province’s visitor economy.
Administered by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the fund provides co-investment for tourism infrastructure, product development and business support projects during the 2026/27 financial year.
The significance of the R7 million extends beyond the value of the grants themselves.
The fund is specifically structured to unlock additional private and third-party investment, allowing provincial funding to help move tourism projects forward while attracting further capital into destinations and businesses.
For tourism SMMEs, this could mean stronger products, better market access and new opportunities to grow businesses that depend on visitors spending money in local communities.
For destinations, the investment can support improvements to visitor infrastructure and the development of experiences that give travellers more reasons to explore areas outside established tourism centres.
The official call identifies ageing infrastructure, limited market-responsive experiences and the uneven geographic spread of tourism activity as constraints the fund is designed to address.
This creates an opportunity for tourism development to reach smaller towns, rural areas and communities that may have attractions, culture and experiences but lack the investment needed to turn them into competitive tourism products.
The fund is targeting growth areas including farm and food tourism, Khoe-San culture and heritage, historic fishing villages and mission stations, wellness and transformational travel, regional towns and villages, and Western Cape trails.
Investment in these areas can have an economic effect beyond an individual tourism attraction.
A stronger destination can create opportunities for accommodation providers, restaurants, guides, transport operators, craftspeople, food producers and other small businesses that benefit when visitors stay longer and spend locally.
The fund also supports business development and market access for tourism SMMEs, including initiatives intended to help enterprises become more competitive and better positioned to reach customers.
Priority is also being given to business development supporting women, young people and people with disabilities.
The R7 million investment comes as the Western Cape seeks to build on tourism growth and increase the economic contribution generated by visitors.
According to Western Cape Government figures citing South African Tourism data, 1.5 million international tourists spent almost R26 billion in the province during 2025.
The Tourism Growth Fund forms part of the province’s wider objective of strengthening tourism competitiveness and contributing towards a target of doubling international tourist arrivals by 2030.
The opportunity is therefore not simply to fund individual projects, but to use the R7 million as an accelerator for tourism businesses, destinations and local economies capable of attracting additional investment and creating employment.
By strengthening the places people visit and the businesses that serve them, the fund has the potential to help more communities participate in the value generated by Western Cape tourism.
Applications are open on a rolling basis until the available R7 million has been allocated
