ED’S LETTER

Cape Town’s tourism status is under seige. Sonya Schoeman considers the issues

Lately, there’ve been a couple of assaults on Cape Town’s status as the world’s top destination for tourists. People are watching with heightening interest and not an insignificant amount of glee (I see you, Twitter) for Day Zero to hit. But in the back of their minds, they also must be wondering whether this is a sign of things to come for them, too. Cape Town’s not alone in this predicament. Many Free State towns have had their taps run dry in the past two years. São Paulo is facing this exact situation, and its population is about 12 million, three times bigger than broader Cape Town. Some Twitter rumbles have suggested that so much is being made about CT in the news because it’s a white middle-class problem. There may be truth in that, but surely the fixation lies more in the fact that this kind of crisis has not yet faced a major city? Everyone the world over will be glued to the Cape Town Show, because how do you maintain civil order in a city of millions when there’s no water? São Paulo’s local government must be quaking and wide-eyed. The second assault is the growing number of vicious attacks on hikers in Table Mountain National Park. In our office we’ve debated whether tourists should be put off from visiting. The thing is, tourism provides a huge number of jobs in the city. Imagine no water and no jobs: powder keg! The tourism sector here is desperate to prevent a collapse of visitor numbers. Wesgro recently put out tourism FAQs stating that international visitors only add one per cent to the population of the Western Cape in high season, so in low season the burden of tourists would be even less than that (slightly misleading, since most of these would be concentrated in the city). It also states that ‘if all stakeholders adhere to the required water savings target, “Day Zero” can be avoided’. Most tourism establishments, it added, have sought alternative water supplies. At least Wesgro is engaging with the situation. Not so SANParks’ Cape Region, which has been criticised for its vague response to the crime issue, although it says it’s working with all parties to find a solution. I like Capetonian Taahir Osman’s approach. He’s formed Take Back Our Mountains, a group that walks the hotspots in numbers (think 90) ‘to make hiking safer’ (find it on Facebook). The citizenry is flexing its muscles and getting involved. We must motivate our governing bodies to act and plan better. So watch us, world, but watch us lead the way. We’re nervous, but we’re awake.