Cape Town to receive 250 tourism monitors to assist with tourist safety in the City
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The City of Cape Town is in discussions with the National Department of Tourism to deploy a squadron of tourism safety monitors, aiming to boost safety in the city in the wake of several violent crimes affecting tourists recently.
Alderman James Vos, the Mayoral Committee member for economic growth, highlighted Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille’s announcement in August of a R174.5 million budget for this initiative nationwide.
The plan is to train over 2,200 youths as tourism monitors nationally, with 250 designated for the Western Cape, focusing on hotspots for crime affecting tourism. Initially scheduled for early November, the deployment has been postponed to December 15, 2023.
With an anticipated surge in domestic and international visitors to Cape Town this summer, the City underscores the urgency for effective safety measures following recent crime incidents in tourism hotspots.
To address this concern, Cape Town is launching its own tourism safety operation this festive season, deploying over 4,000 City enforcement and emergency staff in shifts – the biggest to date. Focus areas include high-traffic tourist destinations across the mountain nature reserves, as well as Bo-Kaap, the Waterfront, and the CBD.
Cape Town Tourism is providing additional safety resources in the form of mobile apps, for assisting tourists in accessing emergency services with location tracking. This includes the TravelWise platform for safety updates and emergency contacts, the Namola App for quick emergency response and location tracking, and the Band-Aid Programme offering assistance for distressed visitors.
Cape Town Tourism staff will be stationed at key locations to provide assistance. Alderman Vos emphasizes the collective commitment to ensuring the well-being of tourists in the city, expressing an eagerness to collaborate with the National Department of Tourism to protect this vital source of income for the local economy.
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