Tourism industry scrambles, but Home Affairs mum on how it determined list of banned countries

The Covid-19 global pandemic crippled several sectors, but despite South Africa’s tourism industry doing all it can to reinvent itself fast in order to survive, it could face even more hardship, as some of the big spenders are still banned from visiting the country. 

The fact that no travel was permitted for prolonged periods of time resulted in foreign traveller arrivals decreasing by 94.4% when compared to July 2019, according to StatsSA. 

Now they sector is bracing for further damage, after the Department of Home Affairs compiled a list of countries leisure travellers will be denied entry from. 

Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape’s finance and economic opportunities minister David Maynier said in a statement released on Thursday that the list is “a major blow” for the tourism and hospitality sector in the Western Cape. 

Notable countries on the infamous list include Denmark, France, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US. 

Although the list will be reviewed every two weeks, and exempts business travellers with “scarce and critical skills”, as well as professional sporting and cultural event participants, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said the decision to compile the list, and its contents, is “complex”, and that travellers coming to South Africa must have travel insurance. 

However, no other information on how government arrived at its decision to compile the list has been given, despite numerous attempts to contact the Department of Home Affairs. 

It is also not clear if South Africa is on any international lists and if its travellers will be banned from entering overseas countries.

High risk countries have more Covid-19 infections and deaths compared to South Africa, medium risk indicates countries with a relatively equal number of cases, and low risk counties have fewer Covid-19 infections and deaths than South Africa. 

Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said leisure travellers from the listed countries will “not be barred forever”, but for now, due to the “high risk categorisation of their country”, which could change, they are temporarily banned from entering the country. 

But while the country waits for the list to be amended, provinces across the country accustomed to accommodating a large amount of visitors may suffer. 

Western Cape as a case study 

In 2018, the Western Cape generated R16.3 billion in foreign spend, and leads the pack in terms of domestic leisure travel enjoyed by foreigners, according to Cape Town and Western Cape tourism, trade and investment company Wesgro.

In addition, the region is dependant on leisure travellers during its summer season, which will potentially be impacted by government’s risk-adjusted travel strategy.

Wesgro cited in its 2019 regional trends that 39.5% of travellers were from overseas. 28.5% of these visitors were from Germany, 21.3% from the UK, and 7% from the Netherlands. 80.7% of these travellers came solely for leisure travel, and mostly travelled in groups, raking in even more revenue for tourism and accommodation sites.

In total, from January to December last year, the Western Cape attracted 8,736,727 visitors, the highest numbers occurring in Cape Town’s high season summer period. 

Cape Winelands | Image: Twitter @allgoodcape

Wesgro delved further into its tourism market by publishing insights into tourist visits from Denmark residents. Denmark is one of the countries currently banned from entering South Africa for leisure travel. 

In 2019, 24,837 visitors travelled to South Africa, 66.4% of which did so for leisure travel. They stayed an average of 15 nights in the country, and mostly made use of hotel accommodation. 

Danish tourists alone contributed to a foreign direct spend of R494 million in 2019. In 2017, R209 million was spent by tourists from Denmark in the Western Cape. 

Government’s approach regarding leisure travel has been slammed by Maynier, who explained “it is unfair to restrict leisure travellers from high-risk countries as there is simply no greater risk of transmission based on the purpose of travel”.

It is especially worrying for the region that the list coincides with peak leisure travel time, during the summer season. 

“We believe firmly that the safety precautions of a 72 hours PCT rest and screening protocols should be applied across the board, regardless of purpose of travel and country of origin.

“In fact, this approach is already adopted by national government with business travellers, and so it makes little sense to exclude leisure travellers in this way,” Maynier continued. 

Much of a muchness? 

Maynier’s sentiments were echoed by Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa.

Tshivhengwa said not only was the tourism sector not engaged regarding government’s decision, but that as far as players in the industry know, facts and numbers are being taken from World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, and applied to South Africa, without taking any factors unique to South Africa into context. 

“Let’s deal with Covid-19 differently, let’s be the leaders in this aspect – not work on a hypothesis when we don’t know what the solution is. It’s not good business,” Tshivhengwa told The Citizen. 

He postulated that if 58 million South Africans can move about safely while adhering to protocols, “why can’t a handful of tourists do the same?”, adding that it is assumed South Africa would only be attracting or “ importing” Covid positive people. 

Children swim in a rock pool near Cape Point one of South Africa’s biggest tourist attractions in Cape Town, South Africa, 08 September 2020. Africa’s tourism sector is struggling due to the drop in international travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates the decrease in travel will reduce GDP in 2020 from somewhere between $53 billion and $120 billion. Picture: EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA

“There are too many stringent things which deters people from coming here,” he said. 

“We need to worry about community transition. What’s the point of protocols if we don’t think they’ll be effective? If you test positive, have mild symptoms, but wear a mask and sanitise, you should be able to live a normal life. That is how we need to look at it.” 

Tshivhengwa said the sector needed to be flexible and simplify the process of accommodating foreign leisure tourists, because “tourist have other places they can go to – we’re making it difficult for them to choose us. We need to give certainty.” 

“We are one of the few countries with a chance to get this right, to lead, and to recreate the tourism sector. But this is not the best plan.” 

Long-term sector damage 

Tshivhengwa warned that lockdown damaged the sector, to the point where it cannot take many more blows. 

But government’s list of high-risk countries has imposed a further travel restriction of sorts, throttling an already ailing industry. 

He believes the entire tourism and hospitality industry is “bordering on permanent damage” which will not be reparable – at least not for years. 

“No one called and asked about the list. We are here, we’re ready to talk, we’re saying talk to us. We can’t always talk about industry collaboration when they don’t come and talk to us.” 

Tshivhengwa added that everything done from now until the effects of the pandemic subsides must be done to support the industry’s recovery. 

“We can’t do it halfway. We have protocols, let’s trust what we’ve put in place. Everyone must do their part. Let’s show the world we can be a model country.” 

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