Tourism to become W Cape's lifeblood

TOURISM should become the central pillar of the Western Cape's economy in coming years, says executive councillor for development, tourism and property management, Kent Morkel. "Our vision from a conventions and incentives perspective for the year 2010 is to be among the top ten long-haul destinations in the world," he said, adding that this would be a powerful stimulus to the economy and job creation. "In the next eight years we anticipate that international tourism spending will surge from the present R9,7bn to R21bn annually." He said that tourism was everyone's business and was the ideal industry for small operators, and for this reason the city had launched the Community-Based Tourism Development Fund to jumpstart community participation in tourism opportunities. As a first move towards bringing tourism under a single-branded umbrella, the City of Cape Town is amalgamating and merging the six tourism bureaux set up under the previous dispensation and has two kiosks at Cape Town International Airport. Previously these bureaux often worked in competition with one another - creating a fragmented and unfocused marketing structure. Now, however, while the bureaux will remain as tourism field offices, they will fall under the City of Cape Town and share a common brand, thereby benefiting the greater good of the metro pole. Tourism offices will continue to operate in Cape Town, Blaauwberg, Tygerberg, South Peninsula, Oostenberg and the Helderberg. Internationally famous events that attract international tourists to Cape Town include the Argus, Pick'n Pay Cycle Tour, LifeCycle Week, the Southern African International Film and Television Market (Sithengi), the Cape Town Karnaval and the North Sea Jazz Festival. (Samantha Killik)