Safety first to keep the visitor economy healthy

Statement by Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management at the City of Cape Town

We now find ourselves in the peak tourism period with large numbers of people visiting our city’s attractions.

We call on locals and visitors to take responsibility to stop the spread of COVID-19.

All of us, businesses, residents and tourists, need to change our behavior and adhere to safety precautions so that we can remain open for business.

If we all work together, we can do wonderful things. We’ve done this before when we faced Day Zero and we can do it again.

In this way, tourism can help bring about economic recovery, just like many times before.

The visitor economy is everyone’s business.

Tourism is the economic lifeline for many businesses in Cape Town and supports thousands of jobs in our city.

A few months ago we put together the Tourism Task Team tasked with strategic coordination to get the industry through these tough times and also focusing on the future prospects. It enjoys high-level support from across the sector, including our official destination marketing organisation Cape Town Tourism.

I am pleased to say that we are constantly implementing measures to drive the aspects in the various stages of recovery and readiness, as well as campaigns to stimulate supply and demand for specific key source markets such as domestic and international travel.

I trust that these initiatives will help tourism flourish in the challenging weeks and months ahead, within the framework of strict Covid-19 protocols.

This is especially true for tourism. We are the sector hardest hit by this crisis. And we cannot yet say how bad the full impact will be.

But tourism will return. And we need to make sure that as the sector grows again, the benefits are felt throughout the city, especially where it is most needed.

For now, we must keep each other safe and we must keep our city safe, by adhering to the health protocols and safety regulations.

Now more than ever we must pull together to ensure we bounce back stronger than before. Let’s do it right, let’s do it for Cape Town.

The City has established a compliance hotline where the public can report outbreak events or non-compliance by establishments. The number to call is 021 444 3582.

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