New blood and broom at Tourism office
Things are
happening at the Montagu AshtonTourism Association. Since the appointment of
Cheryl Mulder Verbruggen as Project
Manager a new sense of urgency has become obvious to all. The message is
getting out – get your house in order and then market, market, market.
Ms. Mulder
Verbruggen was
appointed in December last year and is currently still on board (until the end
of June) in an advisory/consultancy capacity to ensure sustainability and
continuity of the project.
Early in May
Cheryl will be taking a member of staff with her to ‘Indaba 2010’ the industry
trademark exhibition which is to be held at the Albert Luthuli Convention
Centre in Durban. Montagu Ashton Tourism has secured a desk on the Cape Winelands District Municipality's
stand and will be punting our assets there.
Cheryl
has wide contacts in tourism and can call on her network for assistance in
promoting Montagu and Ashton.
A
good example is the ‘Open letter to Helen Zille’ printed below. The background
involves Gert Lubbe, Chairman of Montagu Ashton Tourism. He has long lobbied
for the promotion of Route 62 as a pleasant and rewarding alternative route
between north and south. Early this year he received a stunning official
‘answer’ which seemed to shut the door forever on the possibility of
advertising the alternative route along the way.
Carl Momberg is a well-known and influential figure
in Western Cape Tourism. He was in Montagu in mid April for meetings with
Cheryl and her team. The strong letter below arises from their conversation.
Open letter to Helen Zille
“Tourism has never been your strong point but
great governance has. So you must agree that officials must go the extra
mile and think out of the box since tourism is the province’s most important
industry… and its lifeblood.
“There is an opportunity to really drive tourism
with great effect into the Western Cape’s country towns but your tourism
department seems bogged down in bureaucratic restraints.
“A request for signage on the N1 to point out
that Route 62 (Worcester to Oudtshoorn) offers and attractive alternative to
the N1 received the following response from your chief director of tourism:
“The Department has always supported your request for
Route 62 tourism road signage on the N1, with formal submissions provided via
the provincial regional Tourism Liaison Committees to the relevant road
authorities, SANRAL (SA National Roads Agency) and Provincial Roads on a number
of occasions. As you are aware the road authorities are, by legislation,
the custodians of road reserve areas and will not approve tourism route signage
on an existing numbered route.”
“This is not good enough. If bureacracies
are constipated, a political solution must be found.
“What are the key factors that need to be
considered?
“The N1 north of the Hex River valley is one of
the least attractive and most dangerous
stretches of road in the Western Cape. The section between Worcester and
Beaufort West passes through one village that offer travellers very little.
“Taking the R62 tourist route as a detour only
adds 70–100km to the total distance. It passes through 11 villages that
showcase some of the best the Western Cape has to offer. Most offer
excellent tourism products and local produce. Promoting the detour would
have a significant economic impact and travellers who take this route will
return!
“This is the route that World Cup visitors
should be taking if they travel between Cape Town and northern host
cities. And if Gauteng holidaymakers started using this route, these
towns would see a sustainable benefit.
“It’s a no-brainer. Can you make it
happen?”
As Gert so often points out, if motorists on their way
to Cape Town could be made aware of the pleasure and convenience of Route 62
many of them would surely take it, getting to know so many towns and dorpies
they would otherwise never see.
If you too would like to comment and
support the promotion of Route 62, visit http://capeinfo.com/blogs/spaniard/spaniard/2010/04/open-letters-to-helen-zille-dan-plato/
Have your say
montagumail@compuservices.co.za