Cape Town to roll out ‘largest-ever’ tourism safety operation
The City of Cape Town has said that tourism safety is a top prority for them ahead of the busy summer and holiday season.
With tourist safety becoming an issue in the mother city, after a recent spate of muggings and attacks, the City of Cape Town has announced that their largest-ever tourism safety operation will be implemented ahead of the festive season.
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According to the City, JP Smith, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security said that their festive season plan was built around public safety and that they’ve expanded the blueprint and resources to meet the growing demand.
“Last festive season, our personnel deployed across the metropole executed more than 11 000 operations, working closely with other enforcement and public safety organisations.” Smith said.
“Operations will be even larger this year, and the expanded tourism unit is but the latest example of identifying and addressing a need, in partnership with other agencies, to improve public safety,” he added.
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SOME OF THE NEW SAFETY MEASURES THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN WILL IMPLEMENT INCLUDE:
- A surveillance network of over 3 000 cameras, including public and registered private cameras, as well as drones for operations on beaches and around Table Mountain.
- Safety technology that forms part of the City’s major investment of R860m over the next three years will be implemented over the festive season and make use of drones, dashcams, and automatic numberplate recognition.
- A newly established highway patrol unit will monitor key routes such as the N2 and R300.
- 4 000 uniformed enforcement and emergency personnel who will work in shifts as part of the City’s largest-ever safety deployment over a festive season.
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Cape Town Tourism CEO, Enver Duminy, also added that it was their mission to ensure the safety of all visitors to the city, which includes providing important resources people need to stay vigilant and travel wisely
“We urge special caution for visitors following a GPS. Our TravelWise website outlines crime hotspot zones to alert visitors, and travellers may also contact CTTs 24-hour Emergency WhatsApp line on +27 (0)82 415 7127,” Duminy said.