Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism
- (a) What preparations have been undertaken by the Department and its entities to ready the province for the 2025/26 peak tourism season and (b) which public or private partners are involved in these preparations;
- (a) what support, if any, is being provided to tourism businesses and operators ahead of the season and (b) how many firms or SMMEs are expected to benefit from this support;
- (a) what collaboration has taken place with the SAPS, municipalities or other depart-ments to strengthen tourism safety and visitor management and (b) what specific initiatives are being implemented under this collaboration;
- (a) what is his Department’s forecast for total tourist arrivals to the province for the period December 2025 to January 2026 and (b) what estimated (i) economic con-tribution and (ii) employment impact are projected for this period;
- (a) what were the key lessons or outcomes from the previous summer season that have informed this year’s readiness planning and (b) how are these lessons being incorporated into current implementation strategies?
- (a) Preparations include convening the bi-annual Provincial Tourism Safety Forum, hosting a workshop on illegal guiding, distributing safety tips, hosting a season readiness media briefing, assisting the Department of Tourism with the recruitment of Tourism Monitors and supporting the City of Cape Town to deploy a special Tourist and Visitor Safety Unit at high-volume attractions with extended deployment shifts. Various training initiatives have also been implemented and the Department continues to provide a reactive response service to tourists in distress; and
(b) law enforcement agencies including SAPS and the City’s law enforcement, provincial emergency services and disaster management, stakeholders such as SANParks, V&A Waterfront, CapeNature, non-profit organisatons such as NSRI, WSAR and Lifesaving South Africa, and various industry bodies such as SATSA, FEDHASA, the Concierge Forum, Cape Tourist Guides Association and the SA Adventure Industry Association. In addition, district and local municipalities and tourism offices also participate in these platforms.
- (a) 111 tourist guides participated in the annual, two-day Business of Guiding workshop, and another 37 community guides will receive training in adventure, culture and specialist astronomy guiding. 107 hospitality and tourism frontline workers participated in the accredited NQF4 Customer Service Training in Prince Albert, Riversdale, Grabouw and Hout Bay. The Department will also be conducting tourism awareness and ambassador training in Bergrivier and Drakenstein, as well as community-based tourism experience development (host communities still to be confirmed),
(b) it is not possible to project total participant numbers at this stage;
- (a) collaboration is coordinated through the Provincial Tourism Safety Forum and attendance of platforms such as the Table Mountain Safety Forum and
(b) Ongoing consultation, information sharing, liaison on a case-by-case basis, alignment of communications and messaging and coordinating joint illegal guiding inspections;
- (a) The Department is unable to predict absolute tourist numbers, however, in terms of passenger volumes two-way international arrivals are expected to increase by 11% with +200,000 additional seats projected (Nov25-Mar26). and
(b) The Department cannot project economic and job impacts in advance;
- (a) The importance of continued and consistent coordination and alignment of efforts, as well as continued efforts to overcome negative safety perceptions among European, and first-time traveller markets, and
(b) Greater emphasis being placed on messaging and reputation management.
