Tourism report pushed back

Update

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The Plett Tourism Association could be granted a reprieve by the Bitou Municipality after a council meeting this afternoon. Municipal Manager Mbulelo Memani will be serving a recommendation to extend the Association's contract to June next year and is requesting that the council authorises him to enter into this agreement with Plett Tourism Association.

The three-month service level agreement made with the Association after the previous council meeting expires on 30 September, pending a full report on tourism in Plettenberg Bay.

According to today's agenda, Memani will be "considering that tourism is Plettenberg Bay's main economic driver, and we are now starting a season; it is critical that these services be continued during this period".

The full assessment of tourism-related functions and responsibilities of the municipality is to be put to council in February 2023 to finalise the assessment and to determine a way forward.

Tourism bodies spat

Meanwhile the altercation between the Plett Tourism Association and the newly formed Plettenberg Bay Tourism Board (PBT) continues with the Association countering claims made against it.

Patty Butterworth, CEO of Plett Tourism Association, has issued a lengthy response on the fall-out after Paul Duverge, who has been at the forefront of creating the new PBT, raised questions at the recent Association AGM.

After the meeting, Butterworth issued and urgent notice to members of the Association about "a disgruntled individual" who was "sowing chaos and confusion in the industry". In return, Duverge's attorney sent a letter labelling Butterworth's comment as "false, misleading and slanderous".

Duverge asked for a retraction and apology and objected to a strongly worded comment on the Association's website regarding the issue.

Butterworth denied that the Association had posted a negative statement about "the complainant" on the website, but stated that a public statement was put on social media platforms including Facebook "in order to alleviate confusion caused by the complainant" after Duverge had announced the formation of a new tourism body and board.

The Association's attorneys say Duverge had not followed due process when forming the PBT "after several attempts by the CEO to facilitate the correct process".

The letter by Butterworth's attorneys states that "injurious falsehoods" were levelled against the Association and its board, including an accusation of corruption and having ''a major communication problem".

The letter also said that a decline in income was due to a reduction of yearly membership fees during Covid rather than, as Duverge had said, declining membership numbers.

Leonie Baynes, Duverge's attorney, had indicated that she would compose a response to a letter sent by the Association's chairman, Bruce Richardson.

"Ultimately we stick to the fact that at no time did we call for the closure of the Plett Tourism Association and are still of the opinion that the Association and the PBT can work together in future to the benefit of the Plettenberg Bay tourism industry".

The tourism battle in Plett still continues. Photo: Carlo Coetzee