Nyanga township and some routes to and from Cape Town International Airport are to be excluded from a navigation app as the fastest routes to and from the city.

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille and Prof Alistair Mokoena, country director for Google South Africa, signed a collaborative agreement in Parliament on Monday aimed at promoting South Africa as a safe tourist destination.

This follows incidents of stone-throwing and attacks on motorists on and near the N2 in recent months.

On 3 November, a 55-year-old tourist from Connecticut in the US was shot in the face and robbed soon after leaving Cape Town International Airport. A navigation app on his phone reportedly indicated that the most direct route to Cape Town was through the Nyanga township, News24 reported.

At Monday's signing of the agreement, Mokoena said Google had been in touch with city officials and had identified crime hotspots. These included Nyanga and the intersection at the airport, which would soon no longer be recommended by Google as the fastest routes to the city.

Speaking to Daily Maverick at Parliament, Mokoena said Google considered driver and commuter safety to be a priority.

"Google is a tool to connect you with your destination in the fastest and safest possible time. So when it comes to recommending routes, we look at what is the fastest possible way to get you...