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Calls for a beachfront safety protection unit for Nelson Mandela Bay were amplified again on Monday at a briefing attended by DA party leader, John Steenhuisen, and senior provincial and city officials.
The call on Monday also came amid reports of the robbery of a tourist in Happy Valley who was stabbed and robbed over the weekend, and rising cases of kidnappings and extortion reported in the province.
DA Shadow MEC for Community Safety, Yusuf Cassim, said all these factors have negatively impacted on the tourism sector, and the provincial economy.
He said time was fast running out to rescue the looming holiday season.
"The DA believes that a specialised provincial task force must be created to work hand in hand with tourism operators to safeguard tourists and restore confidence in our tourism industry.
"To address the challenges in NMB, establishing a South African Police Service Beachfront Tourism Protection Unit is essential.
"This dedicated unit will enhance safety in tourist areas and improve the overall experience for both visitors and residents," Cassim said.
He added that the party in the Eastern Cape has requested that Minister Steenhuisen raise both these matters with the Ministers of Police and Tourism to ensure urgent intervention as the summer season approaches.
Steenhuisen, meanwhile said it was a “no-brainer” that city authorities should tap into the “low hanging fruit” that is the tourism sector.
He said the 7th administration has prioritised growth and jobs over the next five years, warning that if this was not achieved, it would be difficult to the keep the country's socio-economic fabric together.
The DA leader said the country's tourism sector is one of the key drivers of economic growth and job creation, saying for every 30 tourists visiting South Africa, one job is created.
"We're about to head into a very important season here in Nelson Mandela Bay and viral videos that we saw of a doctor being stabbed and assaulted certainly do nothing to promote confidence here.
“It is not easy to resolve the problems, and we must accept that these problems that we are seeing here, are also being experienced by international cities and metropolitan areas around the world.
"The big difference that distinguished it, is that those areas that are focussed on tourism, are doing something about," Steenhuisen said.
Ward 2 Councillor, Sean Tappan, said the tourism sector on the beachfront area has been hit by COVID, when visitors went down from 421 000 to 298 000, and tourism revenue fell from R8.4 billion to R4.9 billion.
He said as the industry is recovering the impact of COVID, the sector now has to deal with crime, that include card scammers, knife attacks, theft, and vehicles broken into.
Tappan said some of the contributing factors were weak by-law management due to staff shortages in the Metropolitan police force.
He said they have been trying for about ten years to get a beachfront tourism protection unit off the ground, where this was raised with the Eastern Cape Safety MEC as well as the Police Minister during a recent visit but has not received any response as yet.
