City’s sustainable stand at WTM Africa to highlight diverse Cape Town

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

The City is all set to showcase Cape Town’s diverse offerings at its stand at next week’s World Travel Market Africa 2023 (WTM Africa).

Also referred to as Africa Travel Week, it is the continent’s biggest and most important travel trade event and will run from Monday, 3 April 2023 to Wednesday, 5 April 2023 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Our tourism and destination marketing team works exceptionally hard to create a unique, welcoming display stand that gives a sense of the Mother City. Thus far, we have received seven awards for our display stand – for every year in which WTM Africa has taken place. Last year, our six-sided design was awarded for showing elements of Cape Town’s appeal in terms of visiting, working, playing, studying, investing and living.

With sustainability top of mind, last year’s stand materials were then upcycled for use in other branding such as the Economic Growth Visitor Centre at the City Hall.

This year our space will be themed around various experiences such as adventure travel and feature meeting rooms, a chill area and a screen highlighting with impactful visuals the different kinds of experiences Cape Town has on offer.

Earlier this week, I also visited Cape Town-based NPO, Uthando (Love) South Africa which is the official Responsible Tourism Partner for WTM.

The organisation, which uses an award-winning model that combines responsible tourism with community development, will be showcasing their project of an Early Childhood Development Centre in Heideveld. The centre exemplifies the power of tourism as the R12 million needed for the development was raised through Uthando’s numerous tour and outreach programmes. The building is also a model of sustainable construction as it will be built out of 5 000 recycled tyres, 6 000 discarded plastic bottles filled with rubbish, and 12 000 polyutharen waste bricks from film sets.

Uthando has also partnered with Macassar Pottery, a local social upliftment organisation, to design and create the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism award trophy.

Through tourism, we showcase the beauty and diversity of Cape Town’s communities and cultures. Tourism is a key driver of our economic growth agenda and will be the industry avenue through which we secure a job in every household in Cape Town.