Cape Town tourism sector calls for lower prices for locals

'The cost to these landmarks is too high for many residents'

CAPE Town's Bed & Breakfast establishments, tour operators and tourism authorities have called on the city's tourist attractions to accommodate local people by reducing their prices.

They say many Cape Town-born people never visited these attractions because of soaring prices.

Andrew Saunders, manager at Liziwe's Guest House in Gugulethu, said local people rarely visited the city's tourist attractions.

"The cost to these landmarks is too high for many residents. They can't afford it," he said.

Most people visiting the city's tourist attractions were foreign tourists and locals from cities, including Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Saunders proposed that schoolchildren be encouraged to visit these landmarks to gain knowledge and understanding of their history.

"We should also talk to arts and culture MEC Ivan Meyer so that prices can be reduced for schoolchildren and elderly people," he said.

Saunders said it was sad to see the city's children growing up without having visited its tourist attractions.

The City of Cape Town should organise youth events in a bid to attract young people to these landmarks, he said.

Cape Capers Tours owner Faizal Gangat agreed that few locals visited tourist attractions, including Table Mountain and Robben Island.

Out of the hordes of locals at Seaforth Beach in Simon's Town on Sunday, only a fraction would visit Boulders Penguin Colony, about a minute's walk down the road.

But Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan said the city's tourist attractions would send the wrong message if they dropped prices for locals.

"By doing so, we are saying foreign tourists should pay more, while locals are charged less," he said.