A huge development is on the cards for the stretch of coastline from Cape Point to Gordon’s Bay. It would turn the area into the Copacabana of Cape Town, MEC Alan Winde has said.

Hundreds of millions of rand will be poured into developing the False Bay coastline as a tourist destination and already the Monwabisi resort, between Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, is being upgraded.

All three spheres of local government – the Western Cape government, the City of Cape Town and the national Department of Tourism – would work together to develop the False Bay Coastline Route in a bid to lure tourists, Winde continued.

The full roll-out is to begin in earnest once a partnership agreement is signed.

Thus far, the False Bay Coastline Route includes Muizenberg, Vrygrond, Retreat, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and Macassar, and the development would surely go a long way to alleviating unemployment and poverty – two huge problems in most of the areas along the coast – as the development would bring much-needed jobs for locals.

Naturally, the news has been welcomed by industry and community experts alike, but comes with a warning about the need to safeguard the natural beauty and the protected areas, the Argus reported. This included environmental impact assessments of the sensitive dune system.

Winde said:

I am particularly excited about this project as it will bring in communities that were perhaps previously not given the opportunity to have a say in what becomes of their surroundings.

The False Bay, Gordon’s Bay and Cape Point coastlines are among many locations we have earmarked for development. We are leveraging funding from different sources and spheres of government to improve our province’s tourism sector.

The City is finalising a feasibility study, and a number of options are on the table:

• A South Peninsula wine route.

• Shark and whale-watching sites.

• Scuba diving experiences.

• Pleasure cruises between Gordon’s Bay and Simon’s Town, and;

• Shops, restaurants, nightclubs and taverns.

Speaking at the weekend, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said tourism was still crucial for Africa, and South Africa in particular:

[Tourism is] employing six times more people than the global automotive manufacturing sector, four times more than the mining sector, and a third more than the financial sector.

In Africa, we expect the number of direct and indirect tourism jobs to increase from about 18 million in 2011 to 23 million within a decade. Each job in the tourism sector creates just under two jobs in the broader economy.

Communities will be canvassed once the government signs its partnership agreement.

[Source: IOL]