It's Time To Bounce Back

James Vos, the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for economic opportunities, shares why he believes tourism in the Mother City will thrive again.

- James Vos

Ask most people which city in the world they think is likely to be the top of everyone’s list for travel and they’re bound to respond with London or New York. But the fact is that these cities are no longer quite as sought-after, especially now. In fact, that accolade falls a lot closer to home.

For the seventh year running Cape Town was voted the best city in the world by more than 39 000 readers of The Telegraph who took part in the 2019 Telegraph Travel Awards.

Each year hundreds of thousands of local and international visitors flocked to our city to spend time and money, thereby supporting thousands of jobs. And then COVID-19 hit us and the rest of the world.

That is why I established the tourism task team early on in the pandemic, to focus on coordinating the interventions needed to minimise the devastating effect that the lockdown measures would have on the tourism and related industries.

An example of key direct relief offered to the tourism sector was allowing guesthouses and certain B&Bs to reclassify as residential properties. This meant that owners could reduce their rates bills during the period that they were classified as residential properties.

Other interventions included clear communication on the various levels of lockdown; repurposing of the city’s Business Hub to assist businesses in distress; the rollout of the Businesses Support Programme with Productivity SA, as well as the distribution of COVID-19 SMME toolkits, comprising essentials to assist small and medium-sized businesses to get back to work safely.

All interventions are informed by the Tourism Development Framework (TDF), which outlines a need for responsible tourism to be revived with key deliverables and priorities.