Cape’s money-spinning cycling events could add more than R1bn to SA’s economy
The city is open for business and the news is being spread by global television and word of mouth, writes Danny Bryer
Tourism, the economic powerhouse of SA, has been hit. In the Western Cape in particular, a R40bn industry has been hamstrung by water shortages. There are 300,000 jobs in the balance, and a recovery plan is needed to ensure that retrenchments are avoided and that the sector can resume the growth it had been enjoying until recently. One mechanism for this recovery is through large events. While other urban tourism destinations — including Durban and Johannesburg — are also experiencing water shortages, the Cape’s situation provides an example of how events-related tourism can counteract shortfalls in the broader economy and generate industry sustainability. The Cape Town Cycle Tour is the world’s biggest individually timed cycling race with 35,000 participants, 4,000 of whom are international visitors. That race alone brings more than R500m into the city’s coffers. Combined with the three other cycling events in the Western Cape — the Absa Cape Epic, Cape Rouleur and, most recently, ...
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