NEWS RELEASE                                                                                              28 March 2001

PROVINCE AND CITY OF CAPE TOWN JOIN FORCES TO LURE TRADE TOURISM AND INVESTMENT

The Province and the new City of Cape Town are to combine their efforts to market the region as a top world destination.

This was announced today in a joint statement by Western Cape Minister of Finance, Business Promotion and Tourism, Leon Markovitz, and the City of Cape Town's Executive Committee member responsible for Economic Development, Tourism and Property, Councillor Kent Morkel.

The announcement follows months of negotiations between the two authorities in an effort to bring a single-minded focus to promoting the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town to national and international markets to attract  trade, investment and tourism.

Cape Town, which accounts for 89 per cent of the province's population and 73 per cent of economic wealth, is already perceived nationally and internationally as the gateway to the city, province, South Africa and the African continent.

" We intend to bring a single-minded united and combined focus to promoting this region with the specific long-term aim of economic upliftment, job creation and a better life for all," said Markovitz.

In this process we will be talking to Wesgro, the Western Cape Tourism Board, the Cape Film Commission and all the regional and local tourism bureaux about the broad strategy - we need a common approach to attracting tourism, promoting exports and attracting investors."

Councillor Morkel said "We want to increase employment opportunities and raise the quality of life for all our people. To do that we have to attract more people to come and buy our products and use our services. 

"We need to bring tourists, traders and investors from beyond our boundaries. We need foreign exchange spent here. We need to earn more through exports and we need investment in our industries and infrastructure," he added.

Until today's announcement, provincial, metropolitan and local tourism bureaux have been fragmented in their approach, often operating in competition with each other.

"In the past we have had a rather messy, confusing and sometimes conflicting approach to attracting tourists, trade and investors," said Markovitz. "I know the private sector has been frustrated by this over the past few years.".

"We want people beyond our borders to identify the province and the city as an efficient, world-class destination with a common commitment to providing excellent service in all areas," said Councillor Morkel. "It makes perfect economic sense to bring all our efforts under one umbrella with a single marketing approach."

The joint project between the Province of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town's Council marks the start of a new era of co-operation in which both spheres of government will dovetail their economic objectives. 

The formal announcement of the joint initiative is the start of the first phase of a private-public sector partnership linking the myriad of agencies promoting tourism, trade and investment. 

Markovitz stressed the new focus would bring huge benefits not only to Cape Town but to the entire region which includes the Cape West Coast, the Cape winelands, the Cape mission routes and the Cape Whale routes, the Garden route and the wonders of our increasingly popular areas like the Karoo

Councillor Morkel said he was delighted with the new common vision between the city and province. "The City, the Province and our partners in private enterprise are making a fresh start. The synchronised approach can only bring us in line with other world-class cities such as Sydney, San Francisco and Vancouver".

___________________________________________________________________________