Register now for Tuesday’s (Jan 30) webinar arranged by SA Tourism on ‘The effect of Western Cape water shortage on tourism’.

Just how tourists might be affected if the drought in Cape Town continues is unknown, but moves are afoot among suppliers to introduce forgiving cancellation policies on the basis that tourists will then be more likely to keep booking Cape holidays.

Tony Romer-Lee, Chairperson of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), said the association’s recommended position is as follows: “Whilst there is still a ‘Day Zero’ projection in place, if a traveller wants to cancel their holiday that has a Cape Town component due to concerns related to ‘Day Zero’, all cancellation fees for all services contained in the itinerary – not just the Cape Town portion – should be waived if the traveller is willing to rebook their holiday to a travel date within 18 months. Should there be a non-refundable deposit in place, the deposit will be transferred without penalty to the new booking, which would either need to be made at the time of cancellation or held for a future booking to be made before the end of 2019.”

Following a drop in dam levels this week in the Western Cape, the City of Cape Town sees Day Zero, when water runs out, moved forward.

“Unfortunately, due to a drop in the dam levels of 1.4%, Day Zero has, as of Tuesday (Jan 23), moved forward to April 12,” said the City’s Executive Deputy Mayor, Alderman Neilson.

Prior to the drop in dam levels, Day Zero was expected to arrive on April 22.

Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, told Tourism Update that the current water crisis was affecting tourism. “By all accounts, the drought is a crisis for the city. We have been informed by our members that they been receiving cancellations before Day Zero was announced, from both international and domestic travellers.”

Duminy said prospective visitors had questions and were looking for clarity regarding the current water crisis and contingency plans for Day Zero. “They want to know if they will have water on a daily basis. As long as there is uncertainty about the water crisis, there will be an impact.”

Day Zero is expected at a busy time of the year for Cape Town’s tourism and this will have a negative knock-on effect on tourism. “It’s a time when we usually host many events and so the volumes of tourists affected could be severe for our destination. The damage to recover from this shock and impact could take a long time. We’ve seen this with visa regulations in the past. A lot of hard work had to be done to encourage people to come to Cape Town again,” said Duminy.                                                                                                                                                          

Last week Satsa, Cape Town Tourism and other tourism bodies got together with the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Provincial Government and Wesgro to answer the industry’s questions.

The various tourism bodies reiterated the point that Cape Town and the Western Cape were open for business in spite of the current drought, however arriving visitors are urged to be mindful and water conscious.

In the event of Day Zero, which will see the City of Cape Town cutting the regular flow of water, there will still be available water for tourists and locals’ critical needs. This water is considered to be for personal hygiene and consumption.

Currently there is adequate water for tourists’ essential daily needs.

Tourists will still be able to access primary tourism attractions, however specific river-based experiences may be impacted.

Mandated guidelines suggest a shower of no longer than two minutes. The use of baths is discouraged, and most swimming pools at hotels have been converted to saltwater.

Bars and restaurants are currently not being negatively influenced by the drought but must still comply with the water restrictions.

All scheduled major events will still be staged. They have actively put plans in place to ensure that the events do not heavily impact the water levels and many are bringing water from outside Cape Town/Western Cape.

Duminy added: “The crisis is ongoing for Cape Town, and will be so for the foreseeable future, so it’s necessary to have a water-conscious lifestyle for locals and visitors. It’s advisable that tourism businesses continue to look to ways of reducing water consumption and make contingency plans for Day Zero.”

Register now for Tuesday’s (Jan 30) webinar arranged by SA Tourism on ‘The effect of Western Cape water shortage on tourism’.