The past year has seen the successful establishment of a unified Western Cape Destination Marketing Organisation called Cape Town Routes Unlimited. This has brought together all tourism marketing resources inside Cape Town and extending to the whole of the Western Cape. Honourable members in a first for the region we have undertaken one of the biggest print and electronic advertisement Tourism Marketing Campaigns ever mounted in the Western Cape.
Our efforts are already bearing fruit with domestic and international visitor numbers showing more than a 3% increase year on year.
My Department is also responsible for the roll out of the Western Cape's Integrated Tourism Development Framework (ITDF) which maps out our tourism development Agenda for the next ten years. I am pleased to inform this house that already other departments (like our transport department) have used the plan to inform the roll out of important road networks in the Agulhas Region.
In another historic first, the plan has also been used as a basis for the establishment of four tourism gateway centres in the north, west, east and southern central parts of our province. In fact negotiations are underway with our Eastern Cape neighbours for a shared vision, objectives and use of the Eastern Gateway, that is, one which distributes tourists both between our respective Provinces.
My department together with CTRU is also looking into the possibility to link up with the Northern Cape in this regard and ultimately develop a route from the Cape to Namibia. Whilst all of these are at various stages of planning, the first of these has just been recently opened in the V & A Waterfront. Other earmarked gateways include those in Beaufort West, Van Rhynsdorp and in the Storms River area.
My Department has also, together with Cape Town Routes Unlimited embarked on Tourism Enterprise Development Programmes providing platforms for SMME's to become part of the Tourism Marketplace.
Most noticeable was the hosting of the successful Cape Tourism Showcase, where 114 tourism SMME's exhibited their wares to both the industry and the general consumer. No less than 30 000 people visited this show with many of our SMME's picking up important business leads. This concept is now being used by others in the country as a successful pilot and has been replicated in Gauteng. I am certain that other provinces will follow and place my officials at your disposal for consultation.
I also want to bring to the House's attention that in November last year my department launched a Tourists in Distress campaign for the holiday period. The campaign involved providing rapid response assistance to tourists who found their safety and security in jeopardy. We linked up with SAPS and health authorities and successfully managed the perceptions around tourism safety and security in this regard.
In fact, what we managed to do with this programme was to turn negative perceptions about the industry into positive after care and comment by the tourists affected. In many cases we received positive publicity for our efforts. I am ready to share these important lessons with all our colleagues in our partner provinces.
By now many of you would have heard of our Real Enterprise Development Door or as it is commonly known, our RED Door Project. This project provides a comprehensive, integrated set of services to persons thinking about starting a business together with those already in business. In order to ensure integrated services my department has developed a system where SMME's who have developed a particular interest in tourism are referred via the RED Door to our network of Tourism Help Desk Agents spread across the province.
My department has also in the past year launched a Youth in Tourism Indaba and announced categories for a Youth in Tourism Awards 2005. I am convinced that we need to prepare our youth to not only understand the employment opportunities within the Tourism Industry but also prepare them as consumers of the future for an industry where the actions of each and every citizen of our country influences the tourists perceptions of the destination. Indeed I want my province to live up to the adage that "Tourism is everyone's business."
I am passionate about giving everyone access to tourism and have steered my department to ensure that we deliver on this. As a result we launched the Access to the Cape Campaign where during the month of September we subsidised entrance to big icon attractions for schools, senior citizens and youth at risk. I am pleased to report that tourism owners were more than prepared to assist with a reduction in access fees.
Honourable members, tourism represents an opportunity to both grow the economy and spread the benefits geographically and demographically.
I thank you for your continued assistance in this process.
Enkosi Kakhulu.
Enquiries may be directed to:
Thabo MabasoMedia Liaison Manager/Spokesperson
Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism
Provincial Government of the Western Cape
Tel: 021 483 3531
Cell: 083 255 5689
E-mail: tmabaso@pgwc.gov.za
