New tourism act for Western Cape

THE Western Cape Tourism Act 2003 was passed into law on Tuesday in the Western Cape Parliament, making the way for partnership and cooperative governance in the Western Cape to help grow tourism in the province. The new act makes provision for advisory committees for leisure and business tourism, for events and new product development. It will enable a properly resourced visitor information network to be established to link and promote visitor information services across the province. Western Cape Minister of Tourism and Gambling, Joyce Witbooi, said: "The old act was outdated in that it actually prevented a collaborative approach, resulting in a lack of a common vision and implementation between the players which kept us squabbling amongst ourselves and severely limiting tourism growth." According to Witbooi, the act will assist in preventing regional turf protection and enable province, city and regions to share expertise. The trading name for the DMO (Destination Management Organisation) will now be determined through a prescribed consultative process. Executive councillor for economic development and tourism in the City of Cape Town, Alderman Sitonga, said: "We have the marketing strategy. We have the enabling legislation. We have an experienced Board. We have a dynamic ceo. We are ready to go - together!" (Lucy Siebert)