Hon Chair, hon Minister, members of this House, the Western Cape has an array of offerings to foreign and local tourists. Ahead of 2010 it is our duty to ensure that our major icons are operating at their best. This involves them being safe for visitors, infrastructurally functional and informatively signed. As provincial government, it is also important that we ensure their proper protection and good management, so that generations to come will also have the opportunity to experience their beauty.
Though some of the icons do not lie within our legislative jurisdiction, we shall play a facilitating role in whatever format to ensure their sustainability, especially as it relates to the image of the destination in terms of tourism products.
Robben Island is a World Heritage Site, which along with its museum falls within the ambit of the national Department of Arts and Culture. In the recent past this island has faced several challenges relating to the culling of its rabbits, problems with its tourist transport vessels and, most worrying, the resolution of the Robben Island Museum board. All of these have made media headlines, and in some cases have resulted in the island being closed for days during peak season, causing disappointment for Cape Town tourists, as well as the loss of revenue. As previously mentioned, the provincial government is not currently being included in the management of the island as a tourist attraction, but even though it falls within the jurisdiction of the national Department of Arts and Culture, it is one of the jewels in the crown of the Western Cape, and I am afraid it is fading very rapidly.
Therefore we cannot ignore problems associated with it, and appeal to the national Minister to consider addressing this issue of the museum board as urgently as possible. It is evident that we need to forge closer links with national government to prevent future crises of such a nature from occurring at our iconic sites. The biggest infrastructure development project on which we are engaging is the attempt to bring life back into another tourism icon, the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe. We are very concerned about the fact that the train may well have run for the final time last Friday, 26 June, despite Transnet's claims that it is merely closed for maintenance. So far we have finalised feasibility studies for the commercialisation of the George-Knysna and the George-Mossel Bay lines, and they have looked at opportunities for the development of other properties that Transnet holds in this region. Within the next few days we shall meet with Transnet, the line operator, in an attempt to put together an attractive set of investment possibilities, which will help the business community and locals of the area who have a vested interest in the running of this train.
In closing, and on a positive note, we wish to report that we are in the process of investing R1,1 million in partnership with SANParks to begin building infrastructure at one of the least developed of our tourism icons, the southernmost tip of Africa at Agulhas. This will be the first time in many years that this attraction is receiving an upgrade. In the initial phase to be completed soon, we are building a boardwalk with benches and signs. Completion of phases 1 and 2 will have a very positive effect on tourism to the Overberg region.
Further developments are envisaged in the way of creating a link to the West Coast in the form of a cultural San route. The Western Cape's tourism industry is one of the province's major employers and economic drivers. We must therefore treasure our icons and ensure that they are well managed for now and for future generations. I thank you, hon Chair. [Applause.]