With the Department of Home Affairs releasing a revised “red list” of countries not allowed to travel to South Africa, the local tourism industry has been dealt another blow.
Countries included on the list include Germany, India and Brazil, prompting Cape Town Tourism to release a statement.
“The tourism industry has been hit hard by the economic fallout of Covid-19, the SA lockdown and travel restrictions. Businesses are struggling without international guests - especially heading into the summer season,” commented Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy.
Duminy added that the organisation has worked tirelessly behind the scenes with the City of Cape Town to ensure that as a destination, the Mother City is able to carefully manage the spread of the virus.
“We have been educating our members and other stakeholders on best practices when it comes to safety compliance, we have been lobbying for government to safely open the industry again, we have continued to promote Cape Town in various ways to keep the destination top of mind and we have started rolling out our bounce back plan that will ensure that we get going again in a responsive and responsible manner,” he added.
But Duminy further iterated that he was “concerned that by further restricting travel to South Africa, we are slowly killing an industry that has become an economic lifeline to so many.”
Earlier in the week, Western Cape finance and economic opportunities MEC David Maynier echoed Duminy’s concerns by saying that international markets are a key economic driver for the tourism sector in the Western Cape.
"The full reopening of our borders to leisure travellers, with stringent health protocols in place ahead of the summer season is absolutely critical to the sector’s immediate recovery, medium-term stability and long-term survival,“ said Maynier.