23 June 2020 - 17:12The statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing adjustments to the level 3 lockdown brought hope that sense would prevail and amended regulations would pave the way for a meaningful reopening of the tourism sector so that businesses and jobs could be saved.
The tourism sector was affected by the pandemic long before the March 27 lockdown date was announced. Feeling that pain with us have been the communities, associated sectors and informal businesses that rely on an active tourism sector for their livelihoods. On paper the accommodation sector seems open, albeit for certain categories of guests only. In reality, many accommodation establishments only serve leisure markets, or a mix of leisure and business.
Stats SA indicates that as much as 90% of the domestic accommodation market is leisure and that 60% of all domestic overnight trips are across provincial borders. In the case of Gauteng, that percentage is as high as 70%. Many accommodation businesses in surrounding provinces rely entirely on Gauteng’s outbound domestic leisure business.
We have seen extraordinary inconsistencies in the gradual reopening of SA’s economy. The welcome further relaxing of restrictions on accommodation establishments, as announced by Ramaphosa, will be meaningless if domestic leisure tourists are still barred from travelling, interprovincial travel remains in lockdown and businesses are unable to trade due to lack of demand.LETTERS: JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length.