Local tourism industry feels abandoned
"There is no doubt that tourism has definitely been on the receiving end of Covid-19."
Kruger Lowveld Tourism’s (KLT) chairperson, Oupa Pilane, said the tourism industry needs a permanent solution to recover.
According to him, lockdown is temporary and government needs to implement something that will save the industry.He believes the Covid-19 vaccines are the best solution to the pandemic.
“There is no doubt that tourism has definitely been on the receiving end of Covid-19. My view is that there is no understanding of the urgency of the issues that we are dealing with. This is because they are comfortable and whatever is going to happen, they will increase tax then continue getting paid. We will lose our life savings. We have taken most of our money and invested in these businesses.
“We are going to be the losers. If the government employees were to stop receiving salaries, maybe they will move faster and understand,” he explained.
According to him, if those in charge of the intervention plan to help recover the economy begin to think and act swiftly, things will change for the better.
“We have staff members at home who are still waiting for their Covid-19 tests results for more than 10 days. Their 14 days of quarantine is almost over, yet they do not have their results yet. The public hardly goes out to restaurants due to the regulations and curfew. People are struggling to make ends meet. This is affecting most of us and from where I am standing, people will die from hunger before they get infected by the virus,” he said.
Pilane said when tourism flourishes, almost everyone benefits. “When you are sitting in the government and planning, you need to have that foresight. Do not be shallow-minded in how you view tourism. Tourism affects most sectors of the economy.”
Pilane said it is in their interest as businesses to continue engaging with government. “We cannot do this alone. We are now starting to feel like we are on our own. This is the reason why we were saying to government we want to be able to come on board. There are bigger players in the private sector. As the private business sector, we would like to be part of implementing the solution to saving the economy.
“Right now there are so many delays. We have written a letter on January 13 requesting that they allow guest houses to be moved from commercial to residential. This is because many of them are not making money.
“We sent the letter to the offices of the MECs for cooperative governance and traditional affairs and finance, economic development and tourism.”
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Pilane said if the government would consider the impact of Covid-19 to the economy, it would do things differently.
