Tourism sector hopeful Ramaphosa will end state of disaster in Sona speech

With only three days left till the State of the Nation Address (Sona), there have been growing calls for the national state of disaster to be scrapped, as the tourism and hospitality industry urges President Cyril Ramaphosa to consider the economy.

National chair of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa Rosemary Anderson said they were hoping announcements at Sona would make it more conducive for the tourism and hospitality sector to prosper and create jobs.

Anderson said this could be accomplished if the announcement included aspects such as visa waivers, which had not yet been developed for international tourism markets, so it was easier to visit South Africa.

“Currently huge tourism markets like China and India find it very difficult to visit South Africa, since in order to do so, they have to present themselves in person at an embassy before they can access a visa to SA,” she said.

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“Contrast this with countries we are competing against, who are trying to attract the same market and are offering eVisas where these two massive markets can get on line eVisas in minutes or a couple of days.”

Anderson said they also hoped for an end to the national state of disaster.

“We also hope our president will announce that the many dysfunctional areas in government departments, which are currently preventing the creation of jobs, such as the National Public Transport Regulator, the liquor licensing departments and many others will be transformed into professionally run entities, which allow hospitality and tourism to do what it does best and that is create jobs, add to the economy and the fiscus,” she said.

National coordinator of SA Township and Village Tourism Thato Mothopeng said the national state of disaster needed to end.

“The challenge now is we are in an economic crisis,” he said.

National Liquor Traders Association (NLTA) convenor Lucky Ntimane has announced NLTA’s partnership collaboration with liquor traders in various countries across the continent.