Although South Africa’s tourism industry is on an encouraging path to recovery from the Covid-induced slump, it is still far from growth levels last seen before the pandemic burrowed its way into the country two years ago.
And there are still large cracks in the tourism industry when looking at domestic travel patterns. The Tourism Business Council of South Africa , which represents businesses in the tourism industry, points to a compulsory levy of 1% that is charged to consumers for their specific use of tourism services in South Africa, from booking accommodation to vehicle rentals. The funds collected from the levy are used to promote the tourism industry.
The recovery of international tourists arriving in South Africa will take longer, with Wood saying that South Africa had missed the peak season for international tourist arrivals, which ran from November 2021 to March 2022. Wood expects the arrival of tourists from at least Europe and North America to reach pre-Covid levels by March 2023.
Wood supported his views. “We have to inculcate a culture of travel in the country. Our popular tourism centres are the Kruger National Park, Cape Town, the Garden Route and parts of KwaZulu-Natal. What about other rural areas? We need to create geographical spread across the country and get people into other wonderful parts of the country.”
Accelerating the recovery of the tourism industry will require a new approach. Tshivhengwa and Wood have proposed the following: