Why Cape Town can’t afford a day zero
The City of Cape Town has managed to push back its ‘day zero’ by over two months in recent weeks, with the current date at 9 July 2018.
In a statement released on Tuesday (20 February), the city said that reduced consumption by Capetonian residents was the primary reason for the later date.
And while the city is by no means out of the woods on its water woes, the latest announcement will come as huge relief, especially to those in the tourism industry.
According to Wesgro – Cape Town and the Western Cape’s official Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, international press coverage of the drought, and on the prospects of “day zero”, has caused anxiety among foreign travellers.
“We have received concerned calls from the tourism trade, as travellers’ question whether they should visit Cape Town now, and even book for it in the future.
“One of the key concerns noted by potential tourists who are considering Cape Town, and which is also echoed by some citizens, is that they would make the situation water worse if they visited our region. We believe that this is not only incorrect, but that the opposite is true. Not visiting Cape Town and the Western Cape now would only make this challenging situation worse,” Wesgro said.
It noted that during peak season, international tourists only add 1% to the population of the entire Western Cape province on average. These tourists on average only spend a few days in Cape Town, and then travel to other parts of the province, and then up north to attractions such as the Kruger National Park.
Despite this extremely small addition to the population size, tourism supported 206,000 direct jobs, 55,763 indirect jobs and 56,243 induced jobs. Therefore in total, tourism supports over 300,000 jobs across the Western Cape.
As a result of these visitors, R38 billion was added to the economy in 2017. “If one calculates foreign direct spend by visitors, visitors spent R9.9 billion in the Western Cape in the first half of 2017 alone. This was an 8.8% growth,” Wesgro said.
Events, which attract visitors to Cape Town and many places across the Western Cape, add this to this economic benefit. The Cape Town Cycle Tour, for example, contributes half a billion rands to the Cape economy.
“Staying away from South Africa is not part of the solution. Instead, it’s putting strain on a region that depends heavily on tourism. The city has over 1.2 million visitors annually, spending approximately R40 billion, and creating over 300,000 jobs, adding over 7.5% to the city’s total GDP,” said Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South African Tourism.
“This spending helps significantly to fund the ongoing water saving projects being implemented; decreasing this input will create further challenges and financial strain. We remain open for business and are ready to welcome travelers from around the world to one of the most beautiful countries on earth.”
Read: Cape Town water crisis is affecting the value of homes: Standard Bank
Loading ...