First for Province as Minister Winde draws in stakeholders to discuss Tourism Investment Recruitment for the Western Cape

In a first ever for the Province, this morning (7 September 2009), Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, called together representatives of government, civil society, business and labour, to strategise possible ways in which to recruit tourism investment into the Western Cape. The result of the full-day workshop, held in the very heart of the rejuvenated city centre at Mandela Rhodes Place, will be a strategy detailing where investment in the industry currently stands, where we want to go, and a plan on how to get there. The participants, gathered under the common name of the Western Cape Tourism Development Partnership, included major players such as Peter Bacon, Chairperson of the board of CTRU and Martin Kearns, CEO of Eurocape Holdings.

Minister Winde expressed his vision for tourism growth in the Workshop’s opening address: “In order to grow our slice of the tourism cake, we need to understand where we are, and how we fit into the larger economy. We need to decide on our unique so as to establish our competitive advantage, and target investment in line with that”, said Winde. “We need to decide whether we want to be a party city, a beach city or a business city. I am in favour of the combination, with business playing the lead role. In order to be taken seriously, we need to shrug off our “Slaapstad” reputation, and prove to the world that we are indeed a serious location with an excellent quality vs cost value proposition”.

Tourism contributes around 10% to the GDP of the Western Cape, a figure which illustrates the strength of this sector in generating economic activity for our Province. Globally, Africa draws a mere 3% of the US$1500 billion foreign investment market, lagging well behind Europe, South and North America, and Asia. We must look toward developing around our competitive edge, which includes our broader tourism offerings, such as craft, music, film, visual and performance arts, so that we can increase our slice of the FDI pie. In order to do so, our strategy must become more focussed, understanding of investors’ contexts’, and tailor-made.

The Western Cape Tourism Development Partnership will strive to establish the Western Cape as a destination for new markets, and as a place to do serious business.