- The next important step for South Africa’s tourism sector is to work towards the reopening of international travel, says Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.
- The Association of Southern African Travel Agents has put out a strong call for a definitive date to the reopening of international travel.
- The International Air Transport Association calls on governments to work together to reopen borders.
The next important step for South Africa’s tourism sector is to work towards the reopening of international travel, Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said at a briefing on Monday to launch the start of September as Tourism Month.
“With the risk of the virus spread on a downward trend, we are hopeful that the opening of our borders will happen sooner than we are expecting. Again, I need to emphasise that the level of risk, as assessed by the experts, will be determinant of when this will happen,” she said.
The 2020 theme for tourism month is tourism and rural development. Without tourism, many rural communities have no other form of economic activity that can help them generate an income.
Govt urged to find a way
The Association of Southern African Travel Agents (ASATA) has put out a strong call for a definitive date to the reopening of international travel to ensure the survival of the travel industry.
“We appreciate government’s efforts to implement a risk-adjusted and phased approach to reopening international travel and tourism. However, in order for the industry to survive this difficult time, a definite date for the reopening of international travel is imperative,” says Otto de Vries, ASATA CEO.
South Africa can reopen its tourism sector safely, but it requires an enabling environment, which includes the reopening of international borders, an improved visa regime and air access, among others, to help fast-track our recovery from Covid19, according to Thembi Kunene-Msimang, spokesperson for the #IAmtourism campaign.
“As South Africa enters Tourism Month in September, we believe this is the perfect time to shine a lens through the #IAmTourism lobby on the incredible potential of the tourism sector to stimulate its recovery and ensuring inclusive economic growth and employment.”
With the opening of inter-provincial domestic leisure travel, there has been an encouraging spike in local demand for travel, according to Kunene-Msimang. However, to safeguard tourism’s significant contribution to the economy and reignite SA’s economy, there is an urgent need to reopen international tourism, in a responsible and safe manner.
International call
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Tuesday called on governments to work together to urgently find ways to re-establish global connectivity by re-opening borders and to continue with relief measures to sustain airlines during the Covid-19 crisis.
“Protecting their citizens must be the top priority of governments. But too many governments are fighting a global pandemic in isolation with a view that closing borders is the only solution. It’s time for governments to work together to implement measures that will enable economic and social life to resume, while controlling the spread of the virus,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, said in a statement.
He says the world remains largely closed to travel despite the availability of global protocols to enable the safe re-start of aviation developed by governments through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO).
IATA is proposing “travel bubbles” to mitigate risks between specific markets and foresees a much wider and strategic use of Covid-19 testing as technology improves accuracy, speed and scalability.
African airlines’ international traffic dropped 94.6% in July, somewhat improved from a 97.8% contraction in June, according to IATA. Capacity contracted 84.6%, and the load factor fell 47.1 percentage points to 25.4%, which was the lowest among regions in the world. Commercial air travel is still not allowed to and from SA.
Prepared
“We have not been sitting still [during] lockdown,” Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, said during a recent webinar. “We, along with the City of Cape Town, have been doing our utmost to ensure that we are ready to welcome visitors back again.”
Cape Town Tourism has been educating its members and other stakeholders on best practice when it comes to Covid-19 compliance. It has also been lobbying for the government to safely open the industry again.
During the webinar, Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Tourism for the City of Cape Town, noted the need to meet the changing needs of travel.
“Everything has and will continue to change from here on out. This is a road untraveled and we need to figure out what a destination in a Covid-19 world looks like from all angles – as a tourist, as investors, and as residents,” said Vos.
“People are definitely looking forward to traveling again, but Cape Town faces the challenge of the competition from every city in the country since all will be vying for the attention of travellers.”
The Western Cape has been awarded the prestigious Safe Travels Stamp by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).