Folks,

Below is an excerpt from an African Travel and Tourism Assoc. e-mail that a business associate sent me today. Sounds more positive than a February 2021 opening.


South Africa’s tourism private-sector, under the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has been engaging on the Tourism Recovery Strategy currently being developed by South African Tourism. TBCSA is advocating unequivocally for the earlier phased reopening of international tourism to South Africa this year to as close to September 2020 as the Risk-Adjusted Strategy allows, based on a phased approach.

Mark

Subject to change of course.

The Erongo region in Nam is going back on lockdown.

TIA

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Folks,

Below is an excerpt from an African Travel and Tourism Assoc. e-mail that a business associate sent me today. Sounds more positive than a February 2021 opening.


South Africa’s tourism private-sector, under the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has been engaging on the Tourism Recovery Strategy currently being developed by South African Tourism. TBCSA is advocating unequivocally for the earlier phased reopening of international tourism to South Africa this year to as close to September 2020 as the Risk-Adjusted Strategy allows, based on a phased approach.

Mark

Basically there is nothing new.

Typical!

Well September 2020 is better than February 2021... at least it sounds better... sorta

TIA

I was told yesyerday that pressure is being put on the government to have SA open by November 1 to take advantage of European tourists, this from an executive in the wine tourism business. He also said that his government sources said that US visitors would likely be excluded, based on the number of reported Covid cases.
I hope they open the country well before that and to all international travelers.

South Africa will be a stretch for September.

American travelers are not welcome in many countries, with our number of cases. So countries may open up, however we are not allowed to enter. This will change over time, so bide your time and be ready to go when it is your chance.

Last week the country saw a 42% increase in COVID-19 cases the past 7 days and that now places the country with over 50,000+ cases. The country is now limiting who it will test so many will go unreported. I am reading that out lying areas there is no testing and spikes in deaths are being reported, more than past reporting for these areas. So COVID-19 is more wide spread than is being reported, with the lack of testing. As I have read, if you do not test for the COVID-19 virus, you do not have it.

The Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg areas are the main hot areas in the country.

Topped with 40,000+ job loss in the tourism area, this is putting heat on the country elected officials to do something. Businesses are wanting to open up, however the government is not sure what it can do to make everyone happy, so who know what will happen.

I am sorry, but I am afraid this CV 19 thing will affect South Africa and Africa for a very long time. Look at what is happening in Brazil and now India. And still going on in the USA and UK... 2020 is probably gone and god knows if 2021 will be possible to visit again and do some safaris. Americans will probably be denied to enter SA and other countries for a long time. The pressure is on the SA Government and others to re-open, but it will probably lead to spreading the virus more. WE see this happening to certain level in Europe..

It is a terrible situation for governments, the health care system, workers, employers and business. How to handle all this in this mess will be very difficult, but make me sure about one thing; people/travellers/tourists will be careful and do not want to take any more risk than necessary. Meaning less travel to Africa and that again leads to god knows what ...


Morten

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:
...
American travelers are not welcome in many countries, with our number of cases. So countries may open up, however we are not allowed to enter. This will change over time, so bide your time and be ready to go when it is your chance.
...

Well, USA is more populous than many countries combined. If they are going to look at metrics they should look at per capita not total number of cases. Though, due to recent protests, I think numbers are going to skyrocket.

If there are any businesses left

It doesn't look good for African business

The safari industry generates some $12.4 billion in annual revenues for South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania Uganda and Zambia - Africa's top wildlife tourist destinations - according to an estimate by SafariBookings.

But a survey of over 300 tour operators conducted by the online safari travel platform this month showed that almost 93% reported a drop in bookings of at least 75% due to the pandemic. Cancellations have also spiked, the majority of them said.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/job...ricas-072618950.html

All that on top of having to refund many deposits. The problem is, most of those deposits were already spent getting ready for 2020.

Ouch...

I’ve been informed by a source in that presented to government yesterday to push for a September 2020 opening. But it’s a long shot, October/November more likely but with our infections still to peak it’s anyone’s guess and very much still a moving target. If you plan to hunt in SA this year you’re going to have to be extremely flexible in your arrangements. Cape Town so far has recorded the highest numbers with the cases in the Eastern Cape growing the fastest. From what I’ve seen worldwide, the areas affected the first are the first to get over the hump. A tourism survey estimates 85% business bankruptcy in the tourism and hospitality sector if borders don’t open by December at a loss of 1.3 million jobs. South Africa is by far the most visited country in Africa and hunting revenue here far exceeds that of tourism. Dire times ahead. We pray that wise decisions are made in the best interests of our country