The Curated Routes focus on three different experiences visitors can sign-up for, allowing them to meander through the neighbourhood experiencing the area’s diverse activities and interacting with the most inspirational people, including artists, baristas and start-up business owners.
Cape Town, South Africa – Formalising two year’s work with tourism entrepreneurs in the neighbourhood, Cape Town Tourism in partnership with the City of Cape Town, has launched its Khayelitsha Curated Routes initiative which takes a new immersive approach to cultural tourism, looking to showcase all that Cape Town’s largest township has to offer.
Unlike what has come to be the traditional tourism model in townships where tourists are bussed into the neighbourhoods and often have minimal interaction with locals, Cape Town Tourism’s Curated Routes are crafted in partnership with SMMEs based in and run by Khayelitsha locals.
“Our Khayelitsha Curated Routes are focused on providing tourists with an opportunity to have a genuine experience of Khayelitsha. Too often tours in townships become a little more than highly regimented experiences, mainly from tour buses depriving visitors of what they really want – authentic, immersive experiences with locals,” Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, says of the initiative.
The Curated Routes focus on three different experiences visitors can sign-up for, allowing them to meander through the neighbourhood experiencing the area’s diverse activities and interacting with the most inspirational people, including artists, baristas and start-up business owners.
Activities on offer include a tour of street art; cultural experiences like a visit to the Makukhanye Art Room which highlights how the performing arts can positively influence the socio-economic issues experienced in the townships; and enjoying traditional and gospel songs from the Isibane Se Afrika choir. However, highlighting the immersive and interactive nature of these Curated Routes, visitors will also be invited to create their own street art in Khayelitsha or partake in a neighbourhood vegetable garden project in which vegetables grown are sold by Khayelitsha residents for extra income. For more adventurous visitors, there is also the chance to take a cycle tour through Khayelitsha, allowing one to meet local entrepreneurs and taste the local cuisine. And for the young, and young-at-heart, a tour of Khayelitsha’s night-life is also on offer.
Commenting on the partnership with Khayelitsha entrepreneurs, Duminy notes that, “Over the past two years Khayelitsha has been one of the neighbourhoods that has received input from the City of Cape Town. We have done numerous workshops and training sessions to build Khayelitsha with local small businesses to curate these experiences and to get different products on board to work together to make this a reality. We are excited for visitors to Cape Town to have this unique opportunity to experience what is one of the City’s most cultural and up-and-coming neighbourhoods.”
James Vos, Mayoral Committee member for Economic Opportunities including Tourism in the City of Cape Town who was on hand for the launch of the initiative says, “I am excited to be part of this initiative as it demonstrates the significance of the new Tourism Development Framework for Cape Town with the core focus of creating more community-based offerings. My immediate priority is to champion the implementation of this strategy that will boost cultural experiences and help diversify products that will lead to more community involvement and economic benefits. Tourism is a major contributor to employment in our city that sustains around 300 000 jobs in total, making it the sector with the highest growth and employment potential. The City’s objective is to facilitate sustainable job creation in a depressed economic climate, to help establish ‘tourism-preneurs’ while transforming the tourism landscape in Cape Town into a thriving tourism business ecosystem that drives demand and makes business sense.”
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