The pathway to success: Lessons from a good week for SA tourism
It’s a tale of two pathways. Different coastal locations but leading to the same place: tourism success.
The first is a public walkway set to link the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to Mouille Point, just one of several planned new features of the V&A’s R20-billion Granger Bay redevelopment.
The second is a 12km clifftop pathway in Hermanus, officially launched last week after years of contestation and now set to bolster the coastal town’s tourist offering.
Both paths are likely to attract huge traffic, but they are also emblematic: bold initiatives that improve the overall visitor experience and add value to the Cape’s already robust tourism sector.
In the case of the V&A, the coastal path is just one component of a proposed massive development project that literally transform a section of the Atlantic seaboard, in much the same way that the current iconic V&A precinct transformed the Port of Cape Town.
Another standout feature of the V&A project is a 3,2 hectare land reclamation from Table Bay to accommodate retail outlets and up-market accommodation. There will also be a new breakwater protecting a sheltered bay suitable for watersports.
“A revetment connecting the two breakwaters will be approximately 540 metres long,” the report says in its environmental authorisation.
“New public amenities will include the new bay, providing sheltered waters for boating, kayaking, and swimming. Land-based amenities will include a coastal public walkway, a slipway, a fixed quayside, a landscaped promenade, tidal pools, pedestrian paths and open areas. The proposed revetment and breakwater will be constructed in phases over approximately three years.”
Prospects of project approval look good as the Granger Bay development has widespread support, including from the City of Cape Town. The environmental application submission is now complete, with final sign off only expected in 2027.
As expected with a project of this stature, the job stats sound impressive – about 28 000 in the short- to medium-term, rising to 50 000 additional indirect jobs by 2046, according to the project info pack. That’s a rosy picture, but the V&A has delivered before.
The V&A’s success dovetails with other good news out of the tourism sector this week – an 80% increase in two-way passenger traffic at Cape Town International Airport over the past decade. That’s according to the Cape Town Air Access (CTAA) public-private partnership, which celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this month. More airline traffic equals more V&A visitors, and potentially more footsteps into Atlantic seaboard eateries and other businesses.
Read more: Q&A: Jobre Stassen - A 9-year journey to Hermanus’ whale watching pathway
Meanwhile the Hermanus path is fully complete and open for business, bringing to a close almost nine years of contestation. For years the project was caught up in legal disputes involving a group of objecting homeowners who wished it diverted away from their properties. It is now set to add a further attraction to the town’s bouquet of tourist attractions.
Two coastal paths, two different milestones in the growth of a sector with enormous job creation potential. These projects would not have happened without visionaries able to drive them to fruition, and without willing investors. Their success augers well for future
Life can be complicated. Sometimes it’s the simple things in life, like a quiet stroll, that add the most value.
John Lawson
CEO of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry