Water-wise tourism campaign

Cape Town is launching a global water-wise campaign to make it a more sustainable tourist destination amid the severe drought, the city’s tourism, trade and investment promotion agency, Wesgro, said yesterday.

Over the past three years, it said, citizens, industry and the tourism sector had cut water consumption by almost 60%, a feat unmatched by any other major city globally. The new programme included extracting ground water from underground aquifers, temporary desalination and reclaiming/reusing water, which already supplies 12% of the city’s daily usage, and would increase to more than 45% within a year.

“This will secure the sustainability of the region’s economy, its communities, natural resources and jobs. It will also build a more resilient destination,” it said.

Wesgro noted that international tourists, who make up only 1% of the population of the city at any one time, contribute to a multibillion-dollar sector that supports more than 300 000 direct and indirect jobs in the province.

“It is for this reason that the tourism industry has taken a leadership role in working with communities and government to deliver more sustainable business practices,” it said. The campaignwould be driven mainly through digital media and existing marketing channels and would focus on main source markets. – ANA