South Africa’s international tourism may only resume from 2021, said Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.
There is also a strong likelihood that domestic leisure travel will only be fully recovered and operational by December.
‘Based on the Covid-19 epidemic expected trajectory, the first phase of the recovery for the sector will be driven by domestic tourism, followed by regional tourism and international tourism next year,’ the Minister said in a statement.
‘Although we will be gradually opening up the sector in the coming months, depending on how the virus is spreading, we expect that the sector will only fully recover towards the end of this year,’ Kubayi-Ngubane added.
The Minister also said that even the limited reopening of certain services in the tourism-related industry is welcomed, because it will contribute to the recovery of the industry. Certain services, although not leisure travel yet, will still be able to accommodate business travellers such as domestic flights, car rentals and long-distance public transport.
‘The accommodation and restaurants sub-sector and other related services will benefit immensely from these activities,’ she added.
The Minister recently visited several small business owners to ‘provide support to businesses in the sector and ensure compliance’:
#COVID19| @Tourism_gov_za as we mark Day 1 of #level3lockdown, Minister @mmKubayiNgubane is visiting Heritage Lifestyle Restaurant to provide support to businesses in the sector and ensure compliance #StaySafe #TourismStrong #sawilltravelagain #WeDoTourism pic.twitter.com/biXaf6YhFG
— Hlengiwe Nhlabathi-Mokota 🇿🇦 (@Hlengi) June 1, 2020
#COVID19|Our next stop: Li’TheCa Guesthouse Function Venues in Pretoria where @mmKubayiNgubane met the owner, Ms Dineo Maleti who is ecstatic about opening her busines again. Says PPEs will greatly assist her staff as they return to wo #level3lockdown #TourismStrong #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/XUZQRpLzZm
— Hlengiwe Nhlabathi-Mokota 🇿🇦 (@Hlengi) June 1, 2020
#WeDoTourism #tourismstrong https://t.co/OD2YttfLlI
— Dept of Tourism (@Tourism_gov_za) June 2, 2020
Image credit: Unsplash
