The decision to lift international travel restrictions, ahead of the festive season, will help the R400bn sector recover from the Covid-19 lockdown and instill confidence that SA is a safe destination to travel to, industry stakeholders said on Thursday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday that level 1 regulations would be amended to allow international travel to SA from all countries, subject to health and safety protocols and the presentation of a valid negative Covid-19 test result.
Although SA opened its borders on October 1 when the country moved to level 1 of the lockdown, it was only for tourists from the continent and those countries deemed to be at low risk of Covid-19 surges. Tourists from “main source” countries such as the UK, US and many European countries continued to be barred as they were experiencing surges in infections.
The president also announced the amendment of the regulations to allow for the sale of alcohol at retail outlets during licensed operating hours, a decision that would greatly assist businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
The amended regulations were gazetted by co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Thursday.
Tourism, which accounts for an estimated 8.6% of GDP and supports about 1.5-million jobs, has been one of the biggest casualties of the economic slump caused by the Covid-19 lockdown and has lost more than R54bn to the pandemic.
“We are happy and delighted that borders are open. The key thing is that SA is signalling to the world that tourism is open. This brings about policy certainty on what’s required when travelling to SA,” SA Tourism CEO Sisa Ntshona said.
Southern African Tourism Services Association (Satsa) CEO David Frost echoed Ntshona’s sentiments, saying Ramaphosa’s announcement has delivered the “certainty our international guests and customers have been actively seeking since SA introduced level 1”.
Frost said the association looks forward to promoting the country as the ultimate destination for travellers seeking the “open-air, fair weather, low-density tourism which a Covid world demands”.
“To this extent, SA’s tourism sector has instituted stringent health and hygiene safety protocols and we are travel-ready to welcome guests safely and in comfort.”
Association of Southern African Travel Agents (Asata) CEO Otto de Vries said Ramaphosa’s announcement has provided “clarity, consistency and a real opportunity for people to make confident choices to travel to SA, knowing exactly what the basic requirements are”.
Vries said this will make a huge difference to ensuring SA’s recovery as a “primary long-haul destination on the African continent”.
“We need to congratulate our government for the way in which it has responded to the pandemic and where we are today, recognising their efforts in balancing economic requirements with the safety of SA residents. This needs to be celebrated and should be seen as a key factor in instilling confidence that we are a safe destination to travel to,” De Vries said.
Western Cape finance and economic opportunities MEC David Maynier said the province has been calling from day one for the red list of high-risk countries to be scrapped. It was “killing our key source markets for tourism in the Western Cape ahead of the summer season and causing much confusion and uncertainty for the travel and tourism industry”, he said.
Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) CEO Chris Zweigenthal said while the reopening of SA to international tourists will boost economic recovery, “we are not out of the woods yet”.
The government’s decision marked the culmination of an “intensive effort by industry … to persuade the SA government it could safely resume international air travel without compromising its efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the country”.
To date SA has recorded 742,394 coronavirus cases, with a 92% recovery rate.
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