The champagne corks are popping as the travel and tourism industry celebrates the news that South Africa, and several other East African and Southern African countries will be taken off the UK’s red list, effective Monday, October 11.
As announced by UK Secretary of Transport, Grant Shapps, earlier this evening (October 7), only seven countries remain on the red list, with Britons now able to travel to 47 more countries and not needing to quarantine on arrival back from their destination.
According to the official UK Government website, South Africa will be added to the list of countries and territories with approved proof of vaccination, effective 04h00 on October 11.
The travel advisory states: “If you arrive in England before that date you must follow the rules for people who are not fully vaccinated. If you arrive after that, you can use a vaccine certificate to prove your vaccination status.”
This follows several high-level national, local and provincial government interventions, including a phone call to UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.
During this call, Johnson agreed to continue working closely with Ramaphosa on this so that tourism between the countries could recover as soon as possible.
Tourism bodies such as SATSA, Asata, FEDHASA, TBCSA, South African Tourism and the African Travel and Tourism Association have been lobbying the UK government for an urgent review of the decision to keep South Africa on the UK’s red list.
Since May this year, SATSA has been lobbying business and political influencers in the UK to remove South Africa from the red list. The inbound industry association appointed Eterna Partners, a UK-based PR and strategy consultancy, to lobby on its behalf with a view to the resumption of travel between the UK and Southern Africa by this month. The Eterna campaign gained impetus over the past few months, supported by industry crowdfunding in various phases – at a cost of £74 000 (R1,5m). SATSA CEO, David Frost, said the return on this investment would be made by just 48 UK arrivals.
Frost told Travel News’s inbound sister publication, Tourism Update, recently: “We anticipate pent-up demand from our top source market to visit South Africa. We are grateful to our tourism industry for keeping the faith and supporting us throughout.”
Britain is South Africa’s biggest inbound market and is also a key outbound market. And on the outbound front, Asata has also tirelessly lobbied against South Africa being on the red list.
CEO, Otto de Vries, said: "The complexity and cost associated with South Africa being classified as a ‘red list’ destination was a major deterrent for South African travellers.
“With the lifting of South Africa from the UK red list our next priority must be to provide clarity on the requirements the UK will impose to prove travellers’ vaccination status,” said de Vries. “Shapps has announced he’ll recognise the vaccination status of 37 new countries and territories. Asata believes South Africa will be among these countries, but we are seeking clarity on this. South African travellers must be able to make confident choices to travel to the UK, knowing exactly what the basic requirements are and without having to worry that their proof of vaccination might not be accepted.”
De Vries added: “The UK is a popular destination for South African leisure and business travellers. The fact that vaccinated South Africans will be able to travel without the need for quarantine will be a major boost for our travel industry.”
City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, James Vos, has continued to highlight that being on the UK’s red list cost the South African economy an estimated R26m per day in unearned, much-needed revenue.
