The district covers an area of 22 309 km2 and is divided into five subdistricts, each with their own local municipality. These are Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Witzenberg, Breede Valley and the Langeberg. The district is the second most populace area in the Province, with 895 529 people calling the area home. Together with this, the citizens are also the largest economic contributers after the City of Cape Town. The region is famous for its spectacular scenery of beautiful mountains and valleys, and wine and fruit estates, all of which attract large numbers of local and foreign tourists.

Economy

• The Cape Winelands District GDP grew from R35.2-billion in 2007 to R43.7-billion in 2016.
• The Drakenstein area was the largest contributor to the district GDP in 2016, at R14.3-billion.
• The wholesale, retail, catering and accommodation sectors remained the largest employer, employing 85 339 people.
• In 2016 the finance, real estate and business service sectors were the largest contributor to GDP, accounting for 24.3%.
• The food, beverage and tobacco sub-sectors were the largest contributor to manufacturing, with 42%.
• The wholesale and retail trade subsector was the largest contributor to the services sector, accounting for 25%.

Trade

In 2017, the Cape Winelands District was a net exporter of goods to the value of R28.9-billion and imported goods valued at a R28.2-billion. This produced a trade surplus of R660-million. The United Kingdom was the largest destination market for products in 2017, accounting for 13.2% of exports, with a value of R3.9-billion. The leading source market for the Cape Winelands was Saudi Arabia, accounting for 22.1%, with a value of R6.2-billion. Wine was the leading export product from the region, accounting for 22.6%, with a value of R6-billion. Citrus fruit and grapes ranked second and third, accounting for 13.8% and 12.1% respectively.