Cape Town Tourism (CTT) has commended the South African Police Service for its swift response to the murder of UK tourist Anni Dewani and has thanked members of the local tourism industry who assisted the family. A 26-year-old man is to appear in court on November 18 after he was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Dewani at the weekend. Meanwhile, CTT appealed to the hospitality and public sector to avoid labelling township tours as unsafe. “Tourism in the townships is of important economic benefit to these communities,” said CTT CEO, Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold.  “We have had hundreds and hundreds of incident-free trips to these areas and there are dozens of safe, efficient, reliable tourism companies that are operating tours to these areas. It is vital that this incident be seen as a tragic but isolated incident. Cultural tourism brings important authenticity to the tourism experience. Vetted organisations and regulated tours are easily found through accredited providers and organisations such as Cape Town Tourism.”  She said CTT, along with various stakeholders, had prioritised clearer communication around tourism safety, along with extended safety and security programmes, especially during the upcoming peak tourist season. Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa Cape (Fedhasa Cape) Chairman, Dirk Elzinga, commented: “Fedhasa Cape will continue, together with colleagues in the tourism and hospitality industry, to pro-actively address issues of crime and safety. Our industry has indeed made a notable contribution in the fight against crime with our support for initiatives such as the Provincial Safety and Security Plan. The way in which we collectively worked on such initiatives could, in fact, well serve as a lesson to many other destinations.” Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) Western Cape Chairperson, Zelda Coetzee, said: “Cape Town's conference industry, while fairly inactive over the December holiday season, is alive and well – booming, in fact – with major events planned for 2011 and beyond. Of course, leisure and business tourism are interdependent and the conference industry can be affected by such incidents in the long run if business people find themselves worrying about their safety. We applaud the speedy arrest of the suspect and believe that it demonstrates to would-be travellers that attacks against visitors are not tolerated.”