The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) is “reviewing its options and will keep members updated as to the next steps”.
This statement – issued by industry association, SATSA (a member of TBCSA) – comes on the heels of the new regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Sunday evening (July 12).
The new gazetted regulations now include a specific economic exclusion for hotels, lodges, bed and breakfasts, timeshare facilities and resorts and guest houses for leisure purposes.
This follows weeks of confusion over the interpretation of the gazetted notice on June 25 – which a number of industry associations and advisers, including the TBCSA, NightsBridge and Gillian Saunders interpreted to mean that intra-provincial leisure travel was allowed.
The bewilderment of the tourism and hospitality sector was further exacerbated over the weekend as The Presidency flip flopped on its stance – first publishing an infographic on Friday (July 10) that intra-provincial leisure travel was allowed and then removing it and publishing an updated version on Saturday (July 11) in which it highlighted that intra-provincial leisure travel was not allowed.
Meanwhile, Shadow Minister of Tourism, Manny de Freitas, has highlighted that during a meeting of Parliament’s portfolio committee on tourism last Thursday (July 9), when asked questions by the Democratic Alliance (DA) about the research, empirical evidence and data that was used to ascertain the timeline for the reopening of the tourism sector, officials admitted that this was not based on data and even confirmed that they did “not know how much longer” the tourism sector would remain closed.
“The Tourism Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, and her delegation presented the revised budget of her department. The presentation essentially indicated that the sector would open up any time between 12 and 24 months’ time,” highlighted De Freitas.
The TBCSA has been lobbying for the September 2020 reopening of South Africa’s international borders by September this year as around 600 000 to 700 000 direct tourism jobs are on the line, with up to 1,5 million indirect jobs.
De Freitas added that, although the Minister had indicated that she was aware of the job losses en masse within the sector, her “mind-boggling reply” to another DA question was that employees, upon becoming employed, must enquire from their employees “if the employer is sustainable”.
“Again, the Minister demonstrates that she is herself a tourist of her portfolio. She simply does not understand the sector or even business in general and is now resorting to making up ‘facts’ to justify her incompetence as hundreds of thousands of South Africans continue to lose their jobs,” said De Freitas.
Travel News understands that the TBCSA will convene a meeting later today to discuss a way forward.
NOTE:
The amendments that are important to note from the previous gazetted notification:
- Page 6: Hotels, lodges, bed and breakfasts, timeshare facilities and resorts and guest houses, except to the extent that these facilities are required for accommodation by:
- The remaining tourists confined to such facilities;
- Persons for work purposes, and
- Persons in quarantine or isolation.
- Page 8: A specific economic exclusion has been added for hotels, lodges, bed and breakfasts, timeshare facilities and resorts and guest houses, for leisure purposes.
- Short-term home-sharing, letting, leasing or rental, as well as domestic passenger air travel and ships for leisure purposes remain banned.
