Response to security concerns South Africa

Thursday, December 2nd 2010

Following the media frenzy in UK after the brutal murder in Cape Town last month, an ATTA ground operator in Cape Town has sent this email to a client in response to their fears about safety in South Africa following the continued negative press coverage in UK.

We feel that this may be of help to anybody out there with similar concerns. Their email reads:

"We completely understand your concerns regards the recent incident and negative press on Cape Town.

I thought I would give you a bit of feedback based on our experience. We have been operating holidays to South Africa for over 8 years without incident.

Over the last 3 years a number of large sporting events that we have been involved in, have shown without doubt, that South Africa is a safe place to visit if you follow the basic rules of travelling to any country in the world, i.e. keep valuables out of site and avoid crime hotspots particularly late at night.

In 2009 we bought 500 fans to follow the British and Irish Lions Rugby team, this event was followed by India’s Cricket Premier League holding a large scale tournament in South Africa due to safety concerns in India. Both events were hugely successful and went off without incident. The Football World Cup, the largest sports event in the world, came to South Africa in June / July 2010 with 100,000’s fans visiting all four corners of our country and again all went off without incident. South Africa is proud of the fact that their World Cup was safer than those hosted in Europe and other continents in the past.

Crime in South Africa should not be ignored - socio-economic issues do cause higher than average crime, particularly in the poor, township areas. It’s a sad fact that the majority of the poverty and crime is contained within the townships on the outskirts of South African cities and that is why we believe in getting involved in upliftment programmes in these areas to help improve the situation.

This can be done in safety by working with established foundations with certified guides and at sensible times of the day. A visit to the townships with the right guide, to the right area is the cultural and uplifting highlight of many people’s holiday. However, common sense dictates that you do not visit these areas without a certified guide and certainly not after dark.

Our confidence in South Africa is backed by our own decision to live in Cape Town with our young families. Picnics in the wine ands, walks on Table Mountain, cliff top whale watching and horse riding on 3 mile beaches all within half an hour of the city centre are just a few reasons why we find Cape Town, not only a safe place to live and bring up a family ,but also very rewarding.

In short, a visit to South Africa and in particular Cape Town is safe. Come and hire a car and drive the scenic roads, walk on the beaches, enjoy Africa’s top restaurants and nightlife, visit craft markets and climb the mountain, but follow the simple rules you would follow in any major city in the world. 1000’s of visitors do the same every day explaining why Cape Town is regularly in the Top 5 cities to visit in the World"

Back to News...