Nelson Mandela Bay’s natural assets, culture, and hospitality position the city strongly to create jobs and grow the economy by being a destination of choice for both domestic and international tourists.
Yet, in the 2024/25 financial year under the ANC/EFF coalition of chaos, tourism’s direct contribution to the local economy declined from R7.57 billion to R6.21 billion – a staggering R1.36 billion drop.
This loss represents not just missed income, but lost jobs, businesses left to fail, and a further erosion of confidence in the city’s ability to attract visitors and investment.
Tourism should be one of the most important drivers of economic growth, job creation, and investment in Nelson Mandela Bay. But this failed administration has not prioritised it as a cornerstone of the city’s development strategy. It presents significant opportunities for small businesses, youth employment, and community development.
One of the main issues driving tourists away is crime, which is spiralling out of control in the metro and the current administration is totally incapable of dealing with this crisis.
A DA government will boost tourism by:
- Launching a dedicated action plan that will focus on providing improved infrastructure to key tourism nodes such as the city’s golden beaches.
- Installing at least 200 high-tech cameras in crime and tourism hotspots. Ensuring that the Joint Operations Centre is fully operational and that all camera feeds are monitored 24/7.
- Strengthening partnerships between government, the business sector and tourism stakeholders.
- Establishing a dedicated plan to boost tourism across the city and resource the relevant municipal department or a dedicated entity to implement the plan.
- Supporting township businesses to drive the township economy. Establishing a township business support initiative run out of the Mayor’s office.
- Outsourcing the management of all municipal resorts, enabling the private sector to restore the resorts, which will create jobs and drive tourism.
Once our plans are in place we will launch an aggressive marketing campaign to place the city front and centre as an international destination of choice.
If elected mayor, I will deliver a growing, safe, and well-run city. A safe city which delivers working municipal services is essential to growing the economy and creating jobs.
Where the DA governs, we clean our towns, fix infrastructure, and create real conditions for job creation through tourism. That is why the DA-run City of Cape Town is one of the top tourism destinations in the world.
This city deserves the same DA difference that builds, invests, and delivers real jobs.
Together we can get Nelson Mandela Bay working again.