Covid-19 Coronavirus: South African Tourism Update

Google Arts & Culture (GAC) and SA Tourism today announced South Africa: An Explorer’s Paradise, an online exhibition where visitors from all over the world can explore South Africa through a collection of 500 images and videos, 55 Street Views and 20 exhibits. This is the first phase in a long-term collaboration to celebrate South Africa’s diverse people, its rich cultural heritage and its breathtaking landscapes.

Cape Town will increase to seven weekly flights, Durban increased to three weekly flights, while Johannesburg increased to 18 weekly flights, offering passengers more flexible and reliable travel options By March 2021, Qatar Airways will operate 28 weekly flights from South Africa Airline’s young mixed fleet of sustainable aircraft has enabled it to continue flying throughout the pandemic and rebuild its global network to more than 800 weekly flights to over 120 destinations via the Best Airport in the Middle East

South African accommodation establishments are geared up to receive guests in a safe and responsible manner, in line with the COVID-19 health and safety protocols. A health and safety protocols study conducted by the South African Tourism (SA Tourism) Insights and Analytics team and the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA) has shown that 95% of graded establishment were confident with their level of implementation of the COVID-19 Protocols.

The impact of COVID-19 was felt in all industries and sectors around the world. The business events industry which includes Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) was one of the hardest hit. The industry experienced large scale cancellations and postponements and had to adopt a safety-first approach.

While domestic tourism is still far from full recovery, all indications signal a glimmer of hope on the horizon. When South Africa went into lockdown on 26 March 2020, both domestic and international travel came to a standstill.  The easing of lockdown levels at the start of June ushered in domestic business travel. In late July, intra-provincial travel opened up which meant that South Africans could travel within their provinces. This was shortly followed by the opening of inter-provincial travel, spurring life into the domestic travel market.

With the steady increase in the number of COVID-19 infections, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africa will remain on adjusted Level 3, according to the country’s risk adjusted strategy.

President Ramaphosa confirmed that South Africa will move to an adjusted Level 3 on the risk adjusted framework.

South African Tourism (SA Tourism), through its business unit, the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA), launched an initiative to support graded establishments in the COVID-19 hotspot areas as identified by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 14th December 2020.

Co-owner of Zai O.A.T Lodge in Jane Furse, Limpopo Province, Laduma Thembe, had a simple but clear message for the close to 100 SMME’s that attended the Limpopo leg of the SMME Workshop over the weekend.

The International Day for Persons with Disabilities and Disability Awareness Month both present an opportunity for the tourism sector to once again align to ensure universal accessibility and strive to make tourism accessible for all. Universal access affords all people equal opportunity and access to services and products for their benefit, regardless of their social class, ethnicity, ancestry or physical disabilities.

Around 70 tourism SMME’s from various parts of the Northern Cape welcomed the initiative by South African Tourism to include a workshop as part of the recently launched Summer Campaign. The SMME’s formed part of proceedings at Naba Lodge in Upington this weekend and were exposed to a masterclass on doing business in a COVID-19 environment as well as expert advice on marketing and embracing digital technology.

South Africa has an unbelievable diversity of things to do and places to explore in all its nine provinces and this week South African Tourism kicks off a campaign to showcase this wide variety of tourism attraction and experiences across the country.