Solid Gold Saturday

A new water-saving campaign is set to hit Cape Town during this summer holiday season, targeting tourists and smaller hospitality establishments.

The City of Cape Town, Western Cape government, Airbnb and CapeNature, have partnered on the campaign to help tourists and the tourism sector save water.

Economic opportunities MEC Alan Winde says that the focus is on helping smaller tourism establishments save water.

Winde explains that 2 300 water-saving shower-heads will be installed across the Cape's smaller guesthouses and top Airbnb rentals.

Airbnb has over 17 800 proprieties registered in Cape Town, he advises.

According to Winde, the installation will save an estimated 70 million litres of water, 70% on water usage and 30% in electricity for the operators.

We have to make sure that every tourist that comes here understands that we're in a crisis and that they need to use water wisely.

— Alan Winde, MEC of Economic Opportunities at Western Cape

The campaign will also see the distribution of 20 000 hand sanitisers bottles, labelled with water saving tips, at filling stations, on major highways and at the airport.

It's to get every tourist to play their part.

— Alan Winde, MEC of Economic Opportunities at Western Cape

Take a listen to the MEC explain the campaign and its expected impact:

Meanwhile, Grant Thornton Tourism director Martin Jansen van Vuuren says the drought unlikely to affect Cape Town tourism in December.

Take a listen to him make his predictions and justify why: