THE Cape Town city council has asked Cape Town Tourism to amend its constitution so it can market the city.

This follows the city’s decision to stop funding Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) as its marketing body. Councillor Simon Grindrod, the mayoral committee member for economic, social development and tourism, said: “It has been a year since we asked CTRU and the provincial government to address our serious concerns about corporate governance, operational efficiency and strategic focus. I am afraid the situation has deteriorated and a further complication is the premature resignation of two key CTRU board members.” CTRU chairman and Cape Town International gm, George Uriesi, resigned on Friday, a month before the end of his term because he is leaving Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) at the end of June to go abroad. According to Western Cape Finance & Tourism MEC, Lynne Brown, another board member resigned for personal reasons. “Using Cape Town Tourism as a marketing vehicle goes against the national position on regional tourism organisations, which are purely visitor services organisations,” she commented. 

“The claim that CTRU’s corporate governance has deteriorated is a cheap shot, one that I am confident our annual audit will shortly give the lie to,” she said. Brown says political agendas are behind the city’s decisions to stop funding CTRU.  She said, “Clearly this is part of a strategy in which Helen Zille is driving a narrow political agenda by withdrawing money from all areas of co-operation between the city and the province to serve the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) political agenda.” She said CTRU adopted a new financial model on April 1, 2008, and “will not miss a beat, despite the city’s cynical disregard for the interests of the tourism industry”. However, she warned, slashed funding would hamper CTRU’s 2010 Fifa World Cup marketing efforts. “There is no chance that we will be able to do what the destination needs to the fullest extent. “The notion of joint marketing between spheres of government and important industry bodies has been dealt a mortal blow. The city, under the DA, was the leading driver of joint marketing. Is Zille saying they made a mistake? “The city has shown total disrespect to the constitution’s exhortation to work towards co-operative governance and has compromised the Western Cape Tourism Act.” CTRU ceo, Calvyn Gilfellan, concurred. “This is not in the best interests of tourism in the city and the province. My team at CTRU is fully committed to promoting Cape Town and the Western Cape to as wide an audience as possible prior to and after 2010, and our sole focus going forward will be on delivery and ensuring that the taxpayers’ money is wisely spent. “We believe that collaboration and partnership are the keys to realising tourism growth for the entire Western Cape, including all the municipalities, regional and local tourism offices across all six regions. We move forward undeterred and with confidence. Our business plan and budget for 2008/09 was implemented with effect from April 1, 2008, on the assumption that the City of Cape Town might withdraw,” Gilfellan said.