Tourism braces for a surge in visitors

THE travel industry is expecting a bonanza after the news that South Africa has been taken off the UK’s red list.

A few hours after the announcement, tourism providers said they’d been inundated with enquiries and bookings from people wanting to travel from the UK to South Africa and also outbound.

The tourism industry, which was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, also reeled from the decision by the UK to put it on the red list for travel.

Cape Town Tourism said the UK based tourists who included South African expats were expected to visit the Western Cape from the end of this month through to December.

“Cape Town Tourism is definitely delighted at the news that South Africa has been taken off the UK’s restrictive red list after months of lobbying. In South Africa, travel and tourism account for 8.6% of the economy’s output and 9.2% of the jobs so this decision is a big one as it is the first step in restoring the tourism industry and subsequently those who work within it and their livelihoods,” said chief executive Enver Duminy.

Chief executive and founder of Rhino Africa David Ryan said shortly after the news the company received 177 enquiries from the UK market and 74 from the German market.

“We expect to see momentum continue to build through October. We are back at pre-Covid-19 enquiry levels by attribution channel, which is wonderful to see, and our surest sign that travel interest in South Africa has not declined. Guests are looking forward to getting back for summer,” said Ryan.

Since October 7, the company had confirmed more than R11 million in new sales, with 60% for the November to December travel period.

“This is exciting news for our industry and no doubt our next collective challenge will be the capacity of our industry to cope with the increased demands given the significant but necessary cuts we were forced to make,” said Ryan.

The UK is a key market for tourism, trade and investment for the Western Cape, accounting for almost 15% foreign tourists visiting the province.

MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier said in a statement that the tourism sector generated R15.5 billion in gross value add and supported 174 982 jobs in 2019 in the Western Cape.

The tourism sector was estimated to have lost 75 477 jobs in the province in 2020, Maynier said.

New Frontiers Tours chief executive Craig Smith said the number of quotes experienced for travel to South Africa was the highest in 19 months, with quotes from the UK up 150% and confirmed bookings up 100% compared to last month.

Smith said 25% of the quotes were for travel for the remainder of the year, and a number of previously cancelled bookings for November were reinstated.

“This was just in anticipation of the green list and we expect significantly higher numbers once the revised status has been digested by the marketplace,” said Smith.

Duminy said Cape Town Tourism was launching an international campaign to attract tourists back to the city and urged Capetonians to vaccinate.

“We believe that many British and international visitors will look to the vaccination rates within South Africa as a guide to their confidence in choosing Cape Town as their holiday destination of choice and our campaign thus encourages eligible South African citizens to go and get their jab.”