#WaterCrisis : Tourism Starting To Take A Big Hit
So Far Tourists Haven't Been Fazed But The Fear Is Spreading As The Inconvenience Reaches A New Level.
5 February 2018/ Brandon Lee Westraat
It's 68 Days and counting. Yip, I feel the worry on my mind too, my fellow Capetonians. But for tourism officials, it's more like a pain in the butt, as the fear around the water crisis and day zero has spread to the tourists and potential tourists. A Lot of international visitors have taken to their social media as the world starts to recognize this as a serious natural disaster.
This, in turn, is becoming a huge obstacle and concern for tourism officials as there has been a huge volley of cancellations to the very thirsty city. For Cape Town, this could become a huge issue causing a domino effect as the tourism industry brings in a large chunk of the city’s income with it being worth R38 Billion. And trust me we need it.
We don't doubt that financially we can't risk a drop in the tourist traffic in our city, But There is a bigger underlying problem here. The tourism sector supports over 300 000 jobs across our whole province. That's 300 000 families that receive an income from the influx of tourist and this drop is definitely going to hit hard, Especially with thousands of jobs lost in the agricultural sector already. With the country’s unemployment rate at 25% already, the effects could reverberate all through Southern Africa, not just the western cape.
Tourists so far have been incredibly graceful and considerate to the plight here in Cape Town but with the increasing inconvenience of water restrictions, they don't want to add to the demand. If you are one of these concerned tourists, I want to ensure you that even at the peak of Cape Town’s tourism season, water usage only increases by 1%. And I'm extremely sorry for the short showers, Although it would be amazing if you could help us make others aware of what's going on so that we can save water together and in turn save jobs.
