Tour operators in plea for help

STRUGGLING: BOARD CHAIR SAYS INDUSTRY IS IN ‘ICU’

Parliamentary portfolio committee on tourism asked to intervene.

Struggling tour operators want government to assist them by lifting more restrictions to enable tourists to visit their operations during the Covid pandemic.

The industry said they were in the “Intensive Care Unit” in terms of business and need help, with some having closed down because they face an uncertain future.

The emergence of a new “South African variant” virus worsened their situation because the stigma resulted in tourists cancelling all bookings to the country.

The sector believes the exaggeration of the South African variant was deliberate and unfair and badly affected the tourism sector.

A delegation of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA), led by board chair Blacky Komani, told the parliamentary portfolio committee on tourism that the sector urgently needed financial assistance from government.

Komani painted a bleak picture of how the industry was impacted by Covid-19 and said almost every TBCSA member had been affected.

The tourism industry was among the biggest contributors to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) at 8.6%.

Komani said while the country’s economic recovery was heavily dependent on tourism, this would not be achieved if its businesses did not survive.

The industry partly blamed government’s “stop and go” decisions for their situation, as well as the closure of beaches during the peak tourism season.

The TBCSA had hoped that by the end of 2020, things would be different, but two months into 2021, nothing much had changed.

They were losing hope the Lions’ rugby tour would happen and appealed to the committee to help ensure it was not postponed. The tour is scheduled to take place in SA in July/August.

“The TBCSA understands the challenges of managing the infection rate. But at some point, the economy needs to move forward. The TBCSA would be happy to work within the constraints of making sure that it does not create a super-spreader event,” Komani said.