The JSE travel and leisure index rose almost 9% this week, the biggest weekly gain since February, after the UK's announcement that it will remove restrictions on travellers from SA. The index is at its highest level since early in March 2020.
The easing of travel restrictions may result in an influx of UK visitors, providing a much-needed boost to the local tourism industry, which has been battered by the Covid lockdown restrictions since April 2020. This may see some hotels that were closed because of the pandemic resume operations before the year-end.
On Thursday, the UK government announced that from tomorrow fully vaccinated people travelling from SA to the UK do not need to quarantine on arrival or take a pre-departure test. They are required to take a Day 2 test after arrival. Travellers vaccinated in SA will be treated the same as fully vaccinated UK travellers.
The UK is SA's biggest tourist market with 430,000 British citizens having visited SA in 2019, according to Stats SA.
Shares in Tsogo Sun, Sun International and City Lodge soared this week on news of the removal of the restrictions.
City Lodge ended the week 15.5% up at R4.84 while Tsogo Sun, the owner of Sandton Sun, Southern Sun and StayEasy hotels, had a weekly gain of 9% to end the week at R3.50. Sun International, which owns the Maslow Hotel, GrandWest Casino, Meropa and Carnival City, was up 21% to close the week at R25.04.
Sun International, which also owns The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, which attracts many Britons, said though it is early days, it expects inquiries from the UK to begin for the summer. As more flights from the UK are added "there is no doubt we will have a strong pick-up for December", said Sun International CEO Anthony Leeming.
The UK contributed 5.79% of Sun International's total room revenue and 14.26% of international room revenue in 2019. The UK is the company's No 1 international source market, said COO for hospitality Graham Wood.
British Airways is set to ramp up services to SA, with daily flights to Johannesburg expected by mid-December. The airline will also restart services to Cape Town, with three flights a week in November, before moving to a double daily service in December.
As more international travellers come to SA this may boost job opportunities in the sector, which lost almost 470,000 jobs because many hotels were closed.
Leeming said Sun International managed to keep its hotels open except during the hard lockdown. The group will recall some retrenched staff depending on demand.
"We had a lot of people laid off and as soon as things pick up we can certainly bring them back. There is no doubt this is a positive impact, particularly in Cape Town, which has suffered the most," he said.
"There will be a strong economic recovery as a result of foreign visitors coming back," Leeming said, and the GrandWest Casino and limited-payout machine business Sun Slots were also expected to benefit.
An estimated 194,000 UK tourists visited the Western Cape in 2019. Since lockdown restrictions were introduced, more than 75,000 jobs have been lost in the hospitality and tourism sector in the province, said Deidre Baartman, DA Western Cape spokesperson on finance, economic opportunities and tourism. She said every opportunity to help the recovery of this sector is crucial.
Sean Maher, market vice-president: SA at Marriott International, said the group closed four hotels in Johannesburg and Cape Town, but two or three of those would reopen by year-end. Marriott owns brands such as Protea Hotels. He said while the domestic market makes up the bulk of Marriott's local business, "the international market is still very important".
"Personally, I am a lot happier now than I was six weeks ago." He said there is also a domestic recovery. "We are seeing occupancy climb" in most places other than Cape Town and Johannesburg, which still lag as they depend on corporate and international travellers.
City Lodge, which owns brands Fairview Hotel, Courtyard and City Lodge hotels, mostly targeting local travellers, said last month it will reopen some of its seven hotels that were temporarily closed during the pandemic, based on the demand.
Leeming expects operations to return to pre-Covid levels in summer 2022, and Sun International has been receiving conference inquiries for next year. "We will probably be at pre-Covid levels in the next summer. This summer we expect real mass pick-up. Conferencing has a longer lead time while tourism can pick up just about any time."
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