The danger of neglecting SA’s tourism lifeblood – air travel

At a time when our tourism industry is on its knees, thanks to the local and global lockdowns, its recovery chances are now being hampered by the fact that our once-envied internal air network is shrinking.

That decline in the number of smaller airports able to handle significant commercial flights – those ferrying tourists from our major hub airports to the areas in which our attractions are – is because many smaller airports are unwilling, or unable, to spend the money necessary to maintain stipulated safety standards and services.

So, airlines are stopping scheduled flights.

This week, Airlink was forced to suddenly suspend flights to Polokwane because civil aviation authorities downgraded its facilities rating.

Other airports, including Richards Bay and Kimberley, are in similar predicaments.

The downgrading of airports means, in many cases, that travellers – for both business and tourist purposes – have to fly into a hub and then drive long distances.

In the case of foreign visitors – when they finally do return to South Africa, post-Covid-19 – this could mean additional exposure to risk through crime, or our appalling drivers.

The airports in question are not run by Airports Company South Africa, which still operates our major aviation terminals, but are often under the control of municipalities or regional governments which are shot through with inefficiency or corruption … and where money is seldom utilised properly.

Sadly – and at the risk of sounding like a whiner about how ”the old days were better” – we need to say that this sort of decline and decay typifies so many areas of life in this country today.

We have to put an end to this state of affairs and invest in the people and infrastructure which will help grow our economy.

Airports and airlines are the lifeblood of tourism. They cannot be neglected.