The Tourism Business Council of South Africa says although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has a serious impact on tourism in South Africa, the sector will benefit from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement to further relax the coronavirus lockdown regulations.
In his address to the nation on government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday night, Ramaphosa said travellers entering South Africa must show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test that is not older than 72 hours on arrival.
Previously, travellers entering the country needed to present a negative PCR test regardless of their vaccination status.
Ramaphosa also said South Africa would offer vaccinations to unvaccinated travellers.
The council’s Chief Executive Officer, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, has described the changes as both positive and significant.
“We will see something positive out of this announcement. Yes, there are issues around the war in Ukraine, it’s going to have an impact. When the fuel price goes up, it means that travel will be more expensive both locally and international. People want to travel. People want to get back to their everyday lives. They want to go to places like South Africa. They want to go on safaris. They wanna be in open spaces. We do offer that. So, this is a positive announcement from government, and we welcome it.”
DA welcomes travel easing of travel regulations
Democratic Alliance (DA) has also welcomed the president’s announcement of the easing of restrictions for travellers.
Party spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube says tourists coming into the country will assist in retaining jobs.
“We welcome the scrapping of some of the requirements for international travellers. We’ve long called, in particular, for the easing of red tape as it pertains to tourism because we are of the view that we want to make sure that tourists start visiting South Africa again in order for us to start retaining jobs as opposed to losing them.”
The remaining restrictions could have been completely abolished
While welcoming the easing of COVID-19 regulations, Economist Dawie Roodt says there is very little standing in the way of a complete abolishment of the lockdown.
Roodt says he would have liked to see the president abolishing all regulations that are in place because they will have little impact on the current state of the South African economy.
Economist Dawie Roodt welcomes easing of COVID-19 regulations:
