The tourism industry has been hanging in the balance due to the effects of Covid-19 for months. With subsequent job losses and business closures, there is grave concern for what may happen during the third wave. With travellers’ sceptical to travel, the South African tourism industry has taken considerable strain financially. CEO of ASATA, Otto de Vries, said the reinstatement of UIF/Ters for the travel industry would be an “important step towards saving hundreds of thousands of tourism jobs in an industry on the verge of collapse.”
He said countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Hong Kong, UK, US and many other instituted travel bans from South Africa in the wake of concerns around the ‘South African variant’ – B.1.351.
“These countries form by far the largest portion of our outbound travel market. These obstacles combined with the alcohol ban, beach closures, curfew and the restrictions on public swimming pools during the height of season have meant that the travel industry has been, quite literally, unable to operate.
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