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by Marguerite Lombard
Common complaints are that the road signs are not tourist friendly; that the legislation governing road traffic signs is outdated; and that zoning criteria are too inflexible. Authorities are understaffed and do not have the manpower or the financial means to process applications fast enough, or to police illegal signs. As a consequence, legal and illegal signs abound. Wineries are not only becoming more vocal in their protest, but also putting up illegal signs and threatening to blockade roads with tractors and other farm vehicles. Pieter de Waal of Paarl Vintners believes the biggest source of dissatisfaction lies in the fact that a parallel system of legal brown tourism signs and illegal commercial signs has been allowed to develop. "Signs are there to provide the tourist with appropriate information, without jeopardising the safety of road users. However, authorities don't seem to appreciate the importance of tourism to the economy of a town. It seems obvious, but we need to avoid a situation where tourists are unable to find well-known landmarks - it's simply bad publicity." Nicolette de Kock of Stellenbosch Wine Routes agrees that poor signage is creating the impression of a tourist unfriendly industry. A significant enough number of tourists are voicing their dissatisfaction about inadequate signage. The problem must be addressed at a political and legislative level. The wine route members also need to maximise cellar door sales. The first step is to provide adequate signage.
"That is a clear indication that the signage is inadequate. It also reflects poorly on the hotel." He feels the authorities have shown little appreciation for the hotel's commitment to the region's economy. The hotel also employs 124 people from the surrounding areas. Even with all their paper work in order, it took six months before the authorities were able to erect their sign. Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick agrees that the red tape and unyielding bureaucracy is discouraging investment in the winelands. Wineries are spending huge budgets on advertising and publicity, only to find that their premises may not be adequately signposted.
People would eventually be compelled to take matters in hand. And this will inevitably result in total chaos. "Get the public service to provide a service, that's what they are paid for." Reni Hildenbrand has also had a running battle with authorities for years. Her biggest problem is that people cannot find her wine and olive estate, Hildenbrand, situated on Klein Rhebokskloof farm, in Wellington. To complicate matters even further there is also Rhebokskloof in Paarl. "If we did not have cell phones, the whole tourist industry would collapse. We can do as much advertising as we like and attend as many tourism exhibitions as we want to, but without proper road signs, it means nothing. Guests get lost all the time. They phone me from Agter-Paarl, or from Bains Kloof, sometimes they even arrive with a police escort. Imagine that. Wellington's policemen are the most tourist friendly people in the town!" Further afield Route 62 illustrates the fragmented approach to tourism in general. As a tourist route, it is a success story: a harbour to harbour tourist route from the V&A Waterfront through to Port Elizabeth. Yet despite attracting thousands of tourists to the towns and cellars of the Breede River Valley and Little Karoo, the route is poorly signposted, and technically illegal, because the R62 road only starts in Ashton. Local tourism authorities are quick to point out that they are required to work within the guidelines set out in the SA Road Traffic Signs Manual. Secondly, there is a need to set standards for the service industry to protect the tourist from exploitation and misrepresentation, although they do concede that in some instances legislation is outdated and too inflexible. However, problems often arise when applicants are unaware or unwilling to follow correct procedures in their application for road signs, or if the cellar or guesthouse is not correctly zoned. All applications for zoning and ultimately road signs must be directed to the local tourism office. In theory applications for road signs should be processed within three months.
Even then it is not that simple, because there are not enough symbols to indicate all the tourist activities. There are no signs for olive tasting for instance. Signs may also not lead tourists to a destination by indicating the distance to a place of interest. A tourist business can only have a sign at the last numbered road to the establishment, 100m from the entrance and opposite the entrance (provided that the entrance is not on a bend in the road). The underlying principle is firstly that brown and white signs are internationally recognised information signs. Secondly that the two most important information signs are emergency signs such as police and hospitals, followed by the sign for the tourist information office. All pertinent tourism information should be sourced from the latter. Clearly the authorities cannot allow illegal signs to spawn throughout the winelands, neither would it be wise not to address the issues raised by members of the various wine routes, as well as tourism authorities.
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It could end up like this ... if left uncontrolled!
Nietvoorbij was forced to take down this sponsored sign on their property next to the R44.
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