Paarl and Wellington may be in the heart of the Cape Winelands, but when it comes to being a true wine tourism destination the valley lags sorely behind towns such as Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, and even the Swartland.
And to worsen tourism matters even more, a year and a half ago the Drakenstein Municipality ended it’s financial support towards the leading tourism body in Paarl, the Drakenstein Local Tourism Association, forcing them to close their doors.
This saw the tourism offices close and an evident lack-lustre approach to the urgency of tourism in the valley.
Wine tourism is a multi-billion rand industry in South Africa and a major job creator and economic booster.
A 2019 Vinpro report on the value of wine tourism found that wine tourism’s share of total turnover by route for Drakenstein was only 8%, while Franschhoek and Stellenbosch each enjoy 24%, Agulhas 17% and Swartland 10%.
And when the DM took over the reigns of tourism in the valley, they opted rather to focus its vision to position Paarl-Wellington as the Sporting Capital of the Cape Winelands.
But those in local tourism circles said that recent large sporting events in Paarl such as the ICC Womans T20 World Cup and another international cricket tournament, Mzansi Super League Twenty20, barely brought any tourist to Paarl or Wellington, only day visitors to the Boland Park cricket stadium.
David Delaney, acting director of planning and development at DM said, that the plan highlights the Municipality’s renewed focus to establish the destination as a premier global sport, wellness and adventure destination.
But is the DM equiped to deal at all with tourism?
Delaney said that DM is responsible for providing an enabling environment to facilitate the growth of the tourism sector as a priority sector.
He said that they have staff who are equipped with various skill sets within the tourism value chain to ensure that the sector has access to the required technical support.
Delaney added that research had been done regarding the valley’s visitor trends. Following this analysis of the respective trends and statistics, it was evident that the municipality needed to follow a new course of direction, he said.
He also said that a Visitor Centre is an important function for tourism relations, but they however opted “to move with the times” and focus on more digital content when executing destination marketing. Currently the DM is in the process of issuing a tender to further build its online presence.
Furthermore the municipality is collaborating with the three spheres of government to position Paarl-Wellington as a premier destination in the Cape Winelands.
It has attended four international trade shows in South Africa since March 2022 and will represent the Drakenstein destination at the upcoming Tourism Indaba hosted by South African Tourism next week.
And for the 2023-’24 they have allocated R1 500 000 towards destination marketing.
Delaney admitted that tourism is a major economic stimulant for economic growth as identified by the Integrated Economic Strategy (IEG) and they have thus prioritised various programmes, projects and initiatives to promote tourism.
Furthermore, Delaney says, the municipality collaborates with experts in the wine-tourism industry and continues to build strong and lasting relationships with tourism products.
But it is evident it is focusing on sport tourism.
“The municipality has been increasing investment in sports infrastructure and sporting events since 2014,” said Delaney.
“This was done on the back of the Western Cape Government’s drive to promote cultural and sports events as a major driver to further socio-economic development through arts and culture and tourism.
“The municipality is currently developing a sports tourism development plan which will be circulated for public comments in the later part of 2023.”
