Cape Town - The Mother City has been hosting severl world-class events over the past few weeks and this weekend sees the e-prix making its debut.
Other events underway are the Cricket Women’s T20, as well as the International Ice Hockey Federation 2023 Senior Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship.
Cape Town has become a main attraction for hosting world-class events and according to the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for economic growth, Alderman James Vos, the Mother City’s natural beauty and infrastructure are among the drawcards.
“The Formula-e race gives Cape Town massive international exposure and direct benefits for a range of economic sectors such as tourism and hospitality. The global nature could create further opportunities (for) entrepreneurs working in the renewable space and will surely raise the profile of local expertise in this field.
“As the City of Cape Town, we are banking on this event attracting thousands of visitors and investors generating massive economic spinoffs worth an estimated R2 billion impact in the first year.
“For our planet, it really is a race against time because with this race being electric and powered by renewables, it is my hope that this event will act as a catalyst for the green economy in the province and provide a platform for stakeholders to identify business opportunities and drive job creation.
“What I can add is that nothing beats face to face exposure when it comes to the hosting of events. We have a jam-packed programme for the coming year that will attract thousands of delegates and spectators to our city, contributing massively to our local economy and employment opportunities,” Vos said.
He said the City of Cape Town, together with its partners is constantly working on innovative ways to present opportunities to the Mother City as an events destination to a global audience.
He said what sets Cape Town apart from other cities was that it had maintained and expanded the infrastructure needed to host events and visitors.
“When event participants and spectators come to the metro, they also don’t just go to the event, they go to restaurants, accommodation providers, retailers and (local) attractions. And then they share the memories of their experiences with their loved ones which entices more people to travel here,” Vos said.
The Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau, which is funded by the City, has secured 27 bids for events taking place between 2022 - 2024, and beyond.
Vos explained with just these events, a projected R393.4 million will be injected into the local economy.
And while most cities are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, Vos said tourism in Cape Town had surpassed all expectations and made an almost complete recovery.
“As an indication of this recovery, the domestic terminal at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) processed 5.96 million two-way passengers in 2022, which equates to a recovery of 71% when compared to 2019.
“The international terminal saw a recovery of 73% when compared to the same period in 2019, with over 1.8 million two-way passengers moving through the terminal.
“In December, passenger performance at the international terminal saw a record recovery of 96% when compared to the same month in 2019, with 270 000 two-way passengers passing through the terminal,” he said.
And while South Africa current battles with rolling blackouts, Vos said, larger companies and event spaces had the necessary infrastructure to mitigate the impact of load shedding.
“Cape Town’s Big 6 attractions such as Groot Constantia, Cape Point, Kirstenbosch Gardens, and the Table Mountain Cableway have various electricity back-up or alternative systems that allow them to continue doing business during power outages.
“It is, sadly, smaller businesses and tourism operators who often don’t have such resources and are forced to adjust their operations.
“From my daily engagements with businesses in factories and boardrooms, I’ve seen how their production lines are affected and there have been tough conversations around how they cope.
“Often, they are forced to divert budget from things like hiring more staff to taking measures to keep the lights on.
“Thankfully, the City of Cape Town is currently able to limit load-shedding in its supply areas by building up reserves garnered from the Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme,” Vos said.
He said much work was underway as it pertains to the City’s own building of small-scale embedded generation, wheeling, and independent power producer programmers.
“Together with organisations such as our growth coalition partner, GreenCape, the City is determined to ramp up its energy innovation and supply with green power solutions.
“In addition to being a source of jobs and economic growth, with some of the most sustained sunlight in the world and ideal wind power potential, renewable energy is the solution to South Africa’s incessant power woes, not to mention being vital to reducing our carbon footprint,” Vos added.
IOL