Cape Town - The new Cape Town Tourism boss won’t be coming in “guns blazing”.
Enver Duminy has many ideas on where he wants to take the organisation, but he says he has been handed the reins of an already thriving company.
At the same time, there will some important changes by the end of the year. These will focus on the “band aid” programme, which deals with visitors who have been affected by crime.
The programme came under scrutiny earlier this year after a Norwegian exchange student was robbed and raped on Signal Hill, which is widely regarded as a problem area by Cape Town residents.
Table Mountain Watch’s founder Andre van Schalkwyk said the tourism company and the city shied away from highlighting Cape Town’s crime hot spots because they feared losing visitors.
“We need to signpost these places, and let tourists know where it isn’t safe to go,” Van Schalkwyk said at the time.
Duminy admitted some elements of the programme that encompassed these incidents needed to refreshed.
“I can confidently say we will be making some amendments by the end of the year… We have already pinned down some ideas.”
The amendments would be confirmed later this year.
The 39-year-old added that input from organisations such as Table Mountain Watch was valued.
Duminy is not entirely new to the job. Over a year ago, the Mitchells Plain man was acting chief executive for about five months. But until August, when he officially takes over the position, he will be working alongside Cape Town Tourism’s current boss, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, who is stepping down to start a new business.
“I’m going to be a listening post, trying to pick up as much as I can,” said Duminy.
He added that the company picked up a lot of positive momentum under Du Toit-Helmbold and most of his job would revolve around “keeping the ball rolling”.
Last year was a bumper one for Cape Town Tourism, with the city recording a record amount of visitors. Duminy hoped to improve on this number.
A large part of this progress will boil down to domestic visitors and selling Cape Town as a holiday destination to more South Africans, he said.
“There is this local perception that Cape Town is wet, windy and rainy during the winter. We have to point out that there is so much that can be done down here.” - Cape Argus