President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that South Africa will move to level 1 of lockdown on 21 September, and re-open international borders from 01 October, has been widely welcomed by the travel and tourism industry.
“I would like to thank all partners from here in South Africa and across the world for their unyielding support and continued patience.”
South African Tourism Chief Executive Officer, Sisa Ntshona, issued a press statement saying:
“We are delighted by this announcement. As we prepare to open our regional and international borders on the 1st of October, we know many travellers have been eager to travel to South Africa to enjoy the wide variety of our leisure activities and to host their business events. We are thrilled that we can finally welcome them back again.
“As South African Tourism, we have always said that the gradual reopening of the tourism sector and tourism-related services is in accordance with South Africa’s Risk-Adjusted Strategy and is driven by the pandemic’s trajectory, and not set dates. Our numbers are on a gradual decline, which makes this the perfect time to start reopening our borders. I would like to thank all partners from here in South Africa and across the world for their unyielding support and continued patience. We look forward to engaging them once again as we work together to package South Africa for various tourists’ needs.”
“We plead with all travellers, both domestic and international, to get used to travelling within the COVID-19 environment, exercising patience as we have new protocols that we must observe and practise.”
Ntshona added that globally-benchmarked health and safety protocols have been rolled out across the tourism sector. “We take everyone’s safety very seriously. Therefore, we plead with all travellers, both domestic and international, to get used to travelling within the COVID-19 environment, exercising patience as we have new protocols that we must observe and practise,” he urged.
He added that the uptake in domestic tourism since interprovincial travel was permitted last month has been encouraging, and he expects this to continue as the country heads into summer.
For more information and further updates from South African Tourism, please follow @GoToSouthAfrica or @SATravelTrade on Twitter, @SATravelTrade on Facebook, and @GoToSouthAfrica on Instagram.
