Is the nail finally in the coffin for tourism in the valley after Drakenstein Municipality decided recently to withdraw funding from this very important local tourism entity?
The local tourism body Drakenstein Local Tourism Association (DLTA) last week sent out a letter to its members making the shock announcement that the municipality would no longer be funding them.
That after the DLTA’s tender came to an end at the end of 2021, and the tender to run the tourism division in the entire valley includes promoting all of the towns within Drakensteins border, was thrown open again.
The association and one other organisation applied for the tender, but at 99, the municipality withdrew all applications. And then came the shock announcement that they will no longer be contributing to tourism in the valley.
The DLTA said in a statement in December 2021 it received an email informing the organisation that the tender process was cancelled as the budget was not available.
The DLTA reached out to the municipality to obtain clarity regarding the road ahead and managed to secure a meeting on 20 January with the Executive Director and Senior Manager to determine if there was a clear plan from the municipality’s side, but it was made clear there will be no future funding made available to the DLTA in support of wine and tourism for Paarl, Wellington and beyond.
“The biggest impact of the withdrawal of funding is that the two visitor centres will no longer be managed by DLTA staff. The monthly operational and staff costs cannot be covered by our membership income.”
The DLTA and their members will be urgently meeting on this matter on 9 February, when the structure and management of the organisation going forward will be determined.
In the meantime the municipality still maintains that it is committed to supporting the tourism sector.
It said: “[The association’s] new tourism focus centres around developing a wider range of tourism products; attracting investment; and ensuring that the tourism rand reaches across Drakenstein.”
But this is evidently being hampered by red-tape and bureaucracy, as they say that they cannot simply renew a grant agreement, but have to follow formal supply chain management procurement processes.
They further said that they ended the grant because the tender as well as the one other received, did not match their R2 300 000 annual budget for this.
The municipality also said it has shifted its focus and decided to strengthen its capabilities in positioning Drakenstein as a sport and adventure tourism mecca – not only primarily as a wine tourism destination. Using this angle, the municipality wants to ensure a wider spectrum of tourism products benefit from the income that tourism generates, and that the tourism sector’s contribution to local economic growth is increased.
But, to concerned members of the DLTA who contacted Paarl Post about this issue this week, this simply does not make sense.
Questions arising are:
. Where does wine tourism fall, which is the biggest driver of tourism in the Western Cape? . Why did the municipality not rather then sit with the DLTA and discuss the budget and at least assist them with what they are willing to spend?. All indications now are that the municipality themselves want to run tourism in the valley – they tried previously and failed dismally.. What now becomes of all the information staff sitting in offices?
These are only some of the questions being asked.
Paarl and Wellington’s tourism sector, which lags behind in drawing the tourism numbers of for example other winelands towns such as Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and even the sleepy town of Robertson, have for many years justly blamed this on the municipality’s interference in the workings of the tourism body.
One member who has been involved in Paarl and wine tourism for more than 25 years said that municipal politics and tourism simply do not go hand in hand and fails every time.
“The municipality is not a creative thinker. Yes, it is their responsibility to largely financially contribute towards a tourism body that independently carves the road forward for tourism.
“Tens of thousands of people in our valley are reliant on income from tourism and we must build the industry here to create and make more opportunities for its residents.
“The valley has so much tourism potential, it has to be creatively managed and the municipality has never been able to do this.
“The tourism body needs to managed entirely independently from the bureaucratic rule of the municipality.”
