Cape Town - The jewel in South Africa's tourism crown, Cape Town could go the way of Johannesburg with its centre a no-go area for tourists if authorities fail to act soon, a tourism body said yesterday.
"Although Cape Town and the Western Cape are seen as preferred holiday destinations, tourism growth is declining in the city," Mr Hennie Taljaard, head of Cape Town Tourism and general manager of the city's airport, told a conference.
"Tourists are spending fewer nights and less money in Cape Town," he said. "The city centre's future existence is being threatened. It is being turned into a ghost town after 5 p.m."
While the streets of Johannesburg's central business district have long been out of bounds at night to tourists and most locals, Capetonians have until recently felt fairly safe walking around their city centre at night.