Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management welcomes last night’s address by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the commitment to honour those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 as well as the scourge of gender-based violence.
The fact that our borders are now open to all those with negative COVID-19 tests is good for business.
As we head into our peak tourism season in Cape Town, we are ready to welcome both local and international visitors safely. Mayor Dan Plato recently announced that the City had won Africa’s Leading Festival and Events Destination at the 2020 World Travel Awards, which is a huge accolade for us and will give confidence to event organisers looking for a safe and exciting destination.
Our City is tourism ready, and we must do everything to encourage that residents and visitors, including businesses adhere to health protocols to keep our city safe and open as a preferred destination.
I am glad that our many submissions regarding the opening of our borders have not fallen on deaf ears.
The City and our tourism partners’ strategic plans and campaigns to attract visitors and get back to business are all rolling out and already contributing to our recovery.
The visitor economy is everyone’s business and with more tourists visiting, we will stimulate supply and demand to help create jobs and grow the business ecosystem.
Working with industry and Cape Town Tourism (CTT) my aim is to drive demand to our city because the visitor economy is everyone’s business.
For our domestic travellers, we recognise that affordability is tops and that domestic travel is key to helping our tourism and related sectors bounce back. We pride ourselves in not only being accessible but also affordable. That is why we work closely with CTT, and the industry to offer more affordable packages for locals to explore the Mother City. A good example of this is the two domestic campaigns we are currently running in parallel. The first is with Flight Centre and called ‘Internationally Homegrown’ and the second is with TravelStart and focusses on ‘pocket-friendly’ affordable travel. And I will soon be making further exciting announcements on our international campaigns to focus on our key source markets.
Cape Town is open for business and ready to host all visitors safely!