Mossel Bay lauded for building investor confidence

Mossel Bay has been praised by Western Cape MEC for economic development and tourism, Alan Winde, who believes that the town is “streets ahead of other towns in the region.”

Winde expressed this sentiment this week during a meeting with members of the Mossel Bay Business Chamber. He says: “In the recent past, Mossel Bay has been very proactive when it comes to attracting investment and tourism.”

Winde says that the Western Cape has been following a policy of focusing investment in areas of economic growth, and that, in the Western Cape, this meant, amongst others, the Cape Metropole and the Garden Route Region.

“This is not to say that we aren’t paying attention to the rural economy, but that we’re focusing on areas where investment will have the best return in terms of things like job creation,” he says.

Members of the audience at the meeting expressed concern and said that it appeared to them that the Province’s destination marketing organisation – Cape Town Routes Unlimited – was neglecting the Garden Route in favour of other regions or that it was focusing only on Cape Town.

Winde says that he is aware of the issue and would raise it with the relevant authorities in order to ensure that marketing drives would support all the areas of the province.

Minister Winde promises to continue the drive to use the Dias Museum Complex and the historically important Cape St Blaize Cave as levers to grow tourism in Mossel Bay, and that he would request a meeting with the MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sport to discuss the matter.

“While I’ve been in Mossel Bay, I’ve also paid attention to ongoing questions about the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, and paid a visit to the Voorbaai Yards, where I was satisfied that valuable assets are being properly guarded against theft and decay. This is a great relief to me because if those assets go, a bit of history goes with them.”