He was speaking in a University of KwaZulu-Natal webinar on the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry and its recovery strategy.
“As chairman of the forum for the DCCI, I am on the ground with business owners, small and big. Unfortunately smaller operators are closing down because they can’t afford to stay in any form of employment. Restaurants are shutting down by the day and that talks directly to employment,” he said. “The low-hanging fruit is to open up domestic travel, open up inter-provincial travel, because the number of people who will travel in their own province on leisure is very small. It’s pertinent that we get domestic tourism back on,” he said.
Association of Travel Agents South Africa president and Serendipity Tours director Dinesh Naidoo said business tourism, which was currently allowed, was no different to leisure travel.DCCI deputy chairperson and INK Tourism chairperson Mel Ntombela said research conducted two or three weeks ago had revealed that 70% of businesses had retrenched staff.