Revamp our town for tourists
If Mossel Bay is serious about attracting tourists we need to revamp the town appropriately.
Heritage is a neglected component of this potential, despite Mossel Bay's unique history and so I make the following suggestions: develop Tarka Kloof as a botanical garden, plant landscaped gardens along major roads and beaches, award prizes for best gardens, protect the remaining stands of Voorbaai wetland and dunefields.
Pieter van Reenen once suggested building a pier at The Point. Pieter Viljoen proposed building a promenade from The Point to Dias Beach. Why not convert Vintcent Square into a plaza with a fountain?
Erect a statue at The Point to all those who have died along or off the southern coast.
Restore selected streets to their late Victorian character. Rebuild important buildings or at least provide facades that harmonise with historic buildings.
Doctor Gerrit Theron suggested erecting a mussel statue at the entrance to the town.
Create a Khoi cultural centre. Upgrade parks and playgrounds. Replace George Road Clinic with a toposcope. Encourage the use of stone in buildings and street furniture. Give prizes for restored and upgraded buildings. Put craft shops on Montagu Street next to and in styles complementing the old carpenter shop; this would be a tourist attraction and create employment. Appoint a heritage inspector to monitor all construction trenches and do research on historic events.
Trenches continue to expose Stone Age sites. Open an art gallery for aspirant artists to display their ware. Try to recapture the old Victorian steam harbour. Develop the Orca oil rig as a tourist attraction.
Erect signs informing where important buildings/structures once were. Open the Voorbaai marshalling yards to the public. Add sidings between Hartenbos and the Mossel Bay station for more convenient use by the public.
Add murals depicting the town's history at strategic points. Use the Point quarry and Railway Station and/or Dias Museum amphitheatres for open-air concerts.
Add a new more user-friendly reception to the Dias Museum. Have a seafood festival. Have a music festival. Have a regatta.
Twin Mossel Bay with towns we had historic links with such as in Portugal, East Africa and India.
No doubt the municipality will plead poverty, but there are several ways of generating funds while tourism creates employment. Hotels and guest houses thus could charge a nominal bed tax. This will also encourage citizens to take pride in their town with, consequently, less vandalism. If you want to be a major tourism destination you have to offer value.
The municipality welcomes the extensive list of suggestions and will also present this to Mossel Bay Tourism for consideration.
Mossel Bay Municipality is very aware and appreciative of the valuable role tourism plays in local economic development and specifically in job creation.
The municipality, where possible, supports tourism initiatives such as the recently launched The Great Escape to Mossel Bay campaign by Mossel Bay Tourism, which markets the many tourist attractions in and around our beautiful town to South African and international tourists.
Many of the proposals, however, do not fall within the competency or mandate of the municipality’s functions.
Ideally, some may be considered by the private sector for development, as indeed has happened with the Prince Vintcent building redevelopment.
The municipality thanks residents for their efforts to beautify their immediate surroundings, such as sidewalks, yet cautions about the recently adopted wayleave policy.
Guidelines for gardening on sidewalks are being developed.
The mandate for many of the proposals is with either the national and/or provincial governments, other entities, and the private sector.
One suggested course of action would be that the proposals perhaps be proffered to them for comment as well.
* Letter shortened. Contribution exceeds stipulated length. - Ed.