Revamp for Robben Island tourism

Cape Town - 150217 - Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km?. Robben Island is internationally known for the fact that Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Picture: David Ritchie

Cape Town - 150217 - Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km?. Robben Island is internationally known for the fact that Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Picture: David Ritchie

Published Jun 29, 2015

Share

Cape Town - Ferries running independently of the Robben Island Museum’s prison tour schedule are among options being considered in a wide-ranging revamp of the visitor offering at the historical site.

These “taxi” ferries, run by private operators, would ply the 11km trip every hour or hour-and-a-half, giving visitors who might want to go birdwatching or cycling the option of spending the day on the island without having to book a tour.

The Robben Island Museum is also in the process of finalising the tender call for a new fast, safe and reliable ferry to replace the R26-million Sikhululekile, which has been dogged by breakdowns ever since it came into service in 2008.

The vessel has not been to sea for more than 18 months.

Improving conference facilities and overnight accommodation is also on the cards as part of a plan to create new opportunities for attracting different visitors to the island.

The initiatives were shared with tourism industry stakeholders at a quarterly briefing hosted on Friday by Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde.

Winde welcomed the presentation as an “encouraging” indication of a goal-directed management committed to working with the tourism industry in ironing out problems and developing new opportunities.

He told The Sunday Independent: ”Robben Island has been in the news so often for all sorts of issues – with some tour operators even taking the island off their itineraries – but (Friday’s presentation) shows there is a serious action plan and strong leadership. It was a great presentation, to be taken seriously.”

The two key elements of the presentation by the island museum’s chief heritage officer, Pascall Taruvinga, were a “new ferry model” and the “adaptive re-use” of existing facilities on the island, coupled with “product diversification”.

Buying a new ferry to replace the ailing Sikhululekile is only part of the “new ferry model”.

Museum spokesperson Quinton Mtyala said the possible introduction of independent ferries to run regularly through the day could introduce more flexibility in allowing visitors to go over to the island for activities such as birdwatching and cycling that did not necessarily involve visiting the prison, enabling them to stay longer and know they would be able to get back.

“These ferries would function much like taxis,” he said.

The museum was also looking at doing more to exploit the conferencing and accommodation potential on the island. “It’s a World Heritage Site, so we are not able to build new facilities or open the island up to new commercial uses,” he said.

“We are also sensitive to the site’s historical importance. But we can refurbish the facilities we do have, and do more with them.”

Last November, the museum’s chief executive, Sibongiseni Mkhize, noted: “At the moment we are using only 30 percent of the island. We need to diversify our offerings.”

 

But, as Mkhize noted in November, Robben Island Museum’s finances had taken a heavy knock since its ferry broke down, forcing it to hire private vessels to take visitors to and from the island.

“Reliable transport” was the top priority, underscored by the “new ferry model” in Taruvinga’s presentation. Robben Island is seen in Winde’s department as a “huge icon” in one of the Western Cape’s most important sectors.

Tourism, a big jobs generator, falls – along with agri-processing and oil and gas – within the provincial government’s Project Khulisa (Xhosa for “growth”) economic growth initiative. The thrust of Project Khulisa is to give special attention to sectors capable of delivering more employment. Earlier this year, a Khulisa report noted that tourism had grown by 6.8 percent in the past five years, delivering 7.8 percent growth in jobs.

Sunday Independent

Related Topics: