Vital to revive international travel
WE WELCOME the decision to ease the lockdown to level 2 from this week, especially the freedom for people to move around to visit family and friends or take a Sho’t Left to explore our beautiful country.
During level 3, as soon as leisure activities such as hiking, biking, and game drives were permitted, we saw a great deal of interest from those keen to get out after a few cold months stuck indoors.
We predict that the opportunity to go beyond provincial borders will be appreciated and that, from this weekend onwards, many more outings will be planned to the mountains, the seaside, game parks and resorts.
The travel and tourism industries were particularly hard hit by lockdown restrictions over the past 21 weeks, but while local travel is great, we also need to plan ahead to reopen international travel as soon as possible.
Don’t leave it to the last minute but give us a date for when, feasibly, borders can reopen to allow movement in and out of the Southern African Development Community region and then beyond, and when Home Affairs will provide travel documents for those wishing to spread their wings.
The direct contribution of the travel and tourism industry represented more than 3% of global GDP last year and 4.2% of direct employment, but there are other indirect benefits. South Africa is an important international tourist destination which has seen the number of visitors increasing.
Travel and tourism are key revenue drivers, and contribute more than 500 000 jobs, Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, highlighted during her budget vote last month. In his 2019 Sona, President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined an ambitious target of more than doubling South Africa’s international arrivals to 21million by 2030. But that was before the global pandemic struck.
The UN World Tourism Organisation has pointed to a decline of international tourism journeys of between 58 and 78% this year, leading to a loss of at least 100 million direct tourism jobs and many more indirect ones. In SA, estimates are that the pandemic could translate to a 75% decline in revenue and the loss of 500 000 jobs.
We need to test the waters with local tourism in the coming weeks but this alone cannot make up for international spend. We also have to look to the near future and strive to reopen to international markets as soon as possible: 2021 which has been touted by some is too long to wait.