“EKURHULENI is ready and waiting for 2010” was the message delivered yesterday at a Tourism Imbizo hosted by the district’s municipality where key stakeholders for tourism in the region were present to discuss the 2010 Soccer World Cup logistics.
“We are trying to get included for the world cup by creating a fan park,” says Simphiwe Morajane, tourism officer: strategies and policy development, “but first it must be approved by Fifa”.
Morajane elaborated that even though Ekurhuleni was not a host city to the event, it still had responsibilities towards the event seeing as the OR Tambo International Airport (Ortia) fell under its jurisdiction. Other responsibilities that fell under the municipality’s care include transportation, accommodation and facilities development among others.
Safety and security issues were also discussed at the Tourism Imbizo with particular focus on policing, emergency management and health services. Morajane said that visible policing would be increased in tourist areas including hotels, fan parks, restaurants and other tourism routes.
The municipality has also suggested that Ekurhuleni contain a terminal for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that will defer traffic from the airport.
Director of South African Police Service (Saps), Bethuen Zuma, added that security around the airport was not of serious concern at present with close to 950 Saps personnel working at the location, but other measures were being investigated to reduce incidents that occurred to tourists after leaving the vicinity.
Referring to the airport robberies that have dropped in numbers since the arrest of a crime syndicate, Zuma stated that measures such as panic buttons linked to patrol cars at accommodation establishments, CCTV systems and secure drop-off areas were all being looked into as methods of prevention.
