The tourism chief of South Africa's biggest foreign holiday destination, Cape Town Tourism director Sheryl Ozinsky, says the gang rape of a British tourist in Mpumalanga ahead of the Christmas season has caused "enormous" damage to South Africa's image and that a "tougher" government crime prevention strategy is urgently needed.
The British High Commission announced that it was making "minor changes" - that will appear on the British government website - to its travel advice for Britons visiting South Africa in the wake of the horror hijacking.
With 300 000 British visitors to the country annually, the vicious 14-hour ordeal of the 29-year-old tourist and the killing of a local motorist who stopped to try and help her, dominated British newspaper headlines this week.
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Alongside a feature headlined "Deaths and disaster cast a shadow over South African tourism", The Daily Telegraph led with "Aids terror of British tourist raped by gang" on Tuesday, while The Guardian led with "British tourist gang raped in South Africa".
"Aids fear of holiday rape victim" was the Daily Mail's front page headline, while The Times of London ran a list of "British victims of violent crime since South Africa's 1994 all-race election" alongside a front page story "Ordeal of British tourist raped at gunpoint".
The attack was also covered by CNN and the BBC.
Ozinsky said the impact of the crime incidents to the industry was enormous.
Ozinsky, acknowledging there was "no easy, quick-fix solution", said South Africa "urgently needs a multi-faceted crime prevention strategy".
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This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on November 21, 2002
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