Cape Town and N.Y. extend their partnership

Cape Town Tourism and NYC and Company renewed their marketing agreement at a lavish event in South Africa's Mother City.

The marketing agreement between the tourism boards was launched two years ago and was aimed at sharing media spaces and marketing each city in the partner city in order to boost travel and tourism.

Matsuda Healy of NYC & Company said the extension "presents an ongoing opportunity for Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company to exchange our media spaces -- like bus shelters and LinkNYC kiosks in New York City and Cape Town Tourism's mobile information centers, billboards, and MyCiti buses -- in addition to the sharing of best practices in tourism marketing and collaborating on ways to boost travel between the two cities.

"NYC & Company is proud to renew this valuable partnership during what we have been calling a 'Monumental Year' for NYC," Healy added.

Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, said the relationship between Cape Town Tourism and New York City had unlocked a huge part of the tourism industry and has been bolstered by the launch of the first direct flight between the cities. That United Airlines flight is slated to commence on Dec. 15 from Newark Liberty Airport.

"For tourists, it's all about time and money, and having this flight will allow them to get to Cape Town faster, spend more time and money here, which unlocks more jobs," said Duminy.

He added that the direct route is expected to create about 900 jobs and lead to a $28 million boost in tourism spend for the two cities by 2021.