[imagesource: Armand Hough / African News Agency]

When it was announced that our international borders would open once more from October 1, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), said that “South Africa’s 2020/21 international tourist summer season may just have been saved“.

The hope was that we would welcome a steady stream of tourists through the summer months, with things really picking up from February next year onwards.

Booking a holiday to South Africa means factoring in a number of considerations, with our so-called ‘red list’ of countries banned from entering South Africa for leisure purposes due to their COVID-19 situation pretty lengthy, and subject to change.

Then there are the visa concerns, with 11 countries now granted visa-free travel to South Africa, but five of those still on the red list.

It’s all rather complicated, and if you think our government is on top of things, sadly, you’ll have to think again.

The Daily Maverick outlines some of the “confusion and chaos” that international travellers currently have to wade through:

On Sunday and Monday government ministers were scrambling to disentangle the mess created by poor communication, ill-thought-through regulations and mixed messages about regulations for international travellers to South Africa.

Four days after SA reopened its border to international flights, the biggest airline in the world, Emirates, cancelled its flight to Durban for Sunday.

Lufthansa, Germany’s biggest carrier, was also mulling over the suspension of its flights after some of its passengers were denied entry at Johannesburg International because of confusion over updated visa rules.

One of the most glaring errors arises from the fact that the Department of Cooperative Governance failed to rescind the requirement that all visitors have visas, along with the fact that aircrew are currently classified as “visitors”, and subject to the same regulations as someone who booked a ticket.

The insurance industry is “aghast” at the requirement that travellers can only enter our country if they have travel insurance that can cover both the cost of being tested for COVID-19, and any quarantine costs.

In other key areas, requirements remain unclear, and the Airlines Association of Southern Africa is awaiting clarification on numerous issues from the Department of Tourism, as well as the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula.

Good luck on that front – somebody will have to drag him away from Twitter for a day.

It’s safe to say many within the tourism industry in South Africa aren’t stoked with how the first few days have gone:

According to the CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association, David Frost, there is “a disconnect” between Ramaphosa’s announcement and intentions, and the practical implementation of this.

“Opening of borders is the moment we have all been waiting for, but the way in which the government proposes to reopen is impractical and does not allow us to do our job and contribute in a revenue-positive way to South Africa,” he says.

According to Frost, there is no transparency in terms of the criteria being used to evaluate high-risk countries, and practical implications and impediments have not been considered.

I’ll pretend to be shocked.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, who was so optimistic about the tourist season being saved, has changed his tune:

“Inbound international travellers need time to plan their travel. Changing the list of unbanned countries every two weeks introduces a layer of complexity and uncertainty that will lead to erratic booking cycles and confusion among travellers.”

It’s rather difficult for someone to book a holiday to South Africa for a date a few months away, and sort out accommodation and all the other logistics, when there’s a chance they could be banned from travelling here with each bi-weekly update.

There’s no right or wrong way to handle visitors from overseas, because it is a situation that changes constantly, but those businesses which rely on tourism to stay afloat will be crying out for some form of clarity.

[source:dailymav]