Cape Town is the second-largest city in South Africa and one of the most popular destinations for tourists due to its amazing quality of life and breathtaking natural beauty. The city offers great weather, low crime rates and a fairly low cost of living.
Cape Town was recently named as one of the world’s best cities for expats in Africa, according to a recent study released in February 2022.
The study, conducted by Expatriate Group, identified the world’s best places for expats to live based on eight traits: sunshine hours per year, fitness facilities, quality sleep, amount of green space, work-life balance, happiness, friendliness to expats and healthcare.
The city was listed among the world’s best 20 cities, reaching the 16th position on the list. Auckland, in New Zealand, was chosen as the world’s best city for expats.
Expatriate Group is an organization that provides expatriates with international health insurance and specialized in offering international medical insurance to individual expatriates.
Along with Cape Town, Johannesburg was also listed as one of the best 20 cities in the world for expats, reaching number 19 on the list.
Last year, Cape Town launched the Digital Nomad initiative, seeking to encourage national and international digital nomads to choose the South African city as a preferred remote work destination. Part of the objective of pushing for a work-from-distance visa, with a view to boosting the tourism industry and creating jobs.
The initiative was created by Wesgro, the city’s official tourism agency. Capetown’s proficiency in English, fast internet connection, good infrastructure, friendly people, the abundance of activities and places to visit and culture are items considered by Wesgro that contribute to attracting digital nomads to the city.
The city also teamed up with Airbnb in 2021 to offer longer stay options for those looking to work remotely.
“Remote working vacations are becoming increasingly popular in South Africa, so we are thrilled to partner with [tourism firm] Wesgro to promote domestic tourism through longer-term stays while supporting economic recovery in Cape Town and the Western Cape,” Velma Corcoran, Airbnb’s regional lead for Middle East Africa, told Business Insider South Africa.