The City of Cape Town, the Western Cape government and various private-sector agencies are addressing the negative impact that seasonality has on the industry and on economic growth in the city and across the province.
‘We live in a global village and if we want to be a world-class city then we need to stop being complacent and only enjoying the benefits of tourism in our summer months,” said Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille.
“If we can re-position Cape Town as an all-year destination by leveraging events and business tourism, our incoming flight numbers, income generated from the tourism industry and jobs in tourism will improve significantly.”
A workshop was hosted at Cape Town’s Cullinan Hotel for 50 major influencers from the Western Cape government, the private sector and outside industry partners on Tuesday, July 28.
A broad agreement was reached on the need for the city to examine its positioning and to bring about an integrated events calendar for all stakeholders, focusing on growing organic world-class events across business and leisure tourism.
Economic Opportunities Minister, Alan Winde, said integrated information was a key element in furthering growth in the industry: “Tourism is the biggest engine room in our economy, contributing R17 billion each year and over 200 000 jobs. We need to rev it up by using data and technology better than we do today. I am confident that by working together, and by leveraging events to draw visitors to the region, we can become a 365 destination.”
Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, said strategies and defined goals had to be implemented through defined roles and responsibilities. “Cape Town Tourism looks forward to driving this process together with our industry partners and government.”
