Cape Town - With tourists already coming to Cape Town in droves, Cape Town Tourism (CTT) launched the beginning of what was expected to be the city’s most inclusive and busiest tourism month this September at Cape Town Ziplines in Hout Bay on Thursday, with adventures for both local and international tourists to enjoy.
CTT chief executive Enver Duminy said: “We are here kicking off tourism month under the theme ‘Rethinking Tourism’.
“What is critically important for us about this is redoing tourism, which means making sure tourism is accessible for everybody, not only by creating opportunities for businesses to get involved but more importantly, for locals to actually have access to tourism.”
Economic growth Mayco member James Vos said one way this was being done was by giving locals the “Freedom to Wish” for the experience of their dreams in a special give-back initiative launched by the tourism industry.
“We are inviting everyone who lives in Cape Town to nominate themselves or a loved one to tell us the one thing you would love to experience in this city. Whether it’s a stay at a 5-star hotel, a cooking class or paragliding over the mountains; we want to help make as many wishes as possible come true,” he said.
Duminy said the tourism industry had agreed to support as many of these wishes as possible for September.
“The other thing we are focusing on this tourism month is job creation and supply. As much as we are thankful for the demand with the increasing tourism numbers, we are concerned that we do not have enough people employed in the tourism sector because after Covid-19, many jobs were lost. We see around the world how the tourism sector is struggling to cope,” Duminy said.
Cape Town Ziplines owner Clinton Lerm added that they were already seeing a rise in tourists, along with other local operators.
“We are extremely excited about the uptick in visitor figures. This is evident in our forward bookings for October, November and December which are already seeing significant growth. We’re looking at doubling our team of staff over the holiday season and thereafter,” Lerm said.
Duminy said the tourism industry was working to attract talent into the industry again after all the jobs that were lost during the pandemic. He encouraged all to keep a lookout for adverts and job posts regarding this.