ASATA has put its weight behind the Tourism Business Council of South Africa’s (TBCSA) interpretation of advanced Level 3 regulations that “formally accredited and licenced accommodation” be allowed to operate domestic leisure travel within provincial borders.
“As the association that represents over 90% of the retail travel sector, we fully endorse the TBCSA’s interpretation of the recently released COGTA regulations, which allow for intra-provincial (within province) domestic leisure overnight stays (excluding home-sharing), provided the requisite health and safety protocols are instituted by “formally accredited and licenced accommodation”, says Otto de Vries, CEO ASATA.
Following the lead of the TBCSA, until written confirmation is received to the contrary, ASATA will interpret and operate within the regulations that have been gazetted into law.
ASATA reiterates Industry’s call for a responsible phased reopening of tourism. “President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged the delicate balance between saving lives and preserving livelihoods in his address to the nation earlier in June.
“We take the responsibility of safeguarding lives, while also preserving jobs, very seriously in the travel sector. To that end, we have instituted robust safety and health protocols based on international best practice to ensure our industry reopens responsibly and safely,” says de Vries.
“We are working as one industry to take these protocols on board and improve on them so that we can begin a phased and safe reopening of travel and tourism. Over a million jobs in South Africa and the livelihoods of the communities that these jobs support are at stake. We must reopen as soon as we possibly can to save these, keeping a firm focus on doing so safely,” concludes de Vries
