Cape Town Partnership hopes to attract locals and tourists alike to experience Cape Town with its exciting 2015 City Walk. The new urban walk hopes to bring the same charm as the Fan Walk of 2010, a pedestrian route that paved its way along local hotspots in celebration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Launching in 2015, the City Walk plans to add on to Cape Town’s big six tourism interests: Cape Point, Robben Island, Groot Constantia, Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch, and the V&A Waterfront. The course will commence in the Company’s Garden, making it way down Government Avenue and St. George’s Mall, before turning onto the Fan Walk and concluding at the Prestwich Memorial in St Andrew’s Square. On the way, the route will showcase the city’s cultural, economic, and social development of its interconnected public space, all the while aiming to cater to the growing tourism trend for “authentic” urban experiences.
“We envision a team of stakeholders who will be able to engage with us about the narrative of this route. We want it to be authentic, and to include diverse voices and perspectives,” said Cape Town Partnership CEO, Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, with hopes of involving the public in the route’s creation.
Free wireless connection will be offered all throughout the tour, along with the advancement of “informative signage” as a way to explore Cape Town’s history. In addition, exclusive street food, permanent as well as temporary public art, and communal events will also take place in order to further mold the dictated path into a dynamic destination.
“For visitors such a route will immediately provide an accessible and coherent means to experience Cape Town as a city destination. For locals such a route can open up the city, provide a sense of inclusivity and encourage the sense of Cape Town being a ‘crossroads’ or meeting point across divergent histories, cultures and demographics,” said Tim Harris, head of the City of Cape Town’s Investment directorate.
So far, the project has been endorsed by the City of Cape Town, though there’s no word on what those who regularly engage with the city, from retailers to institutions, to students, have to say about it.
