[imagesource: Reuters]

Since the UK introduced the “traffic light” system that categorises countries according to COVID-19 risk analysis in May, South Africa has been on the ‘red list’.

It has taken hundreds of millions of rands out of our tourism industry’s bottom line already and is only getting worse by the day.

For every day that we remain red-listed, we lose around R26 million in tourism spend.

Not to mention those insane quarantine costs when touching down in the UK.

But Saffas and UK travellers wanting to visit were holding on to hope that things would change, as some organisations were petitioning to have South Africa removed from the UK’s red list.

TTG Media has more:

More than 26 000 people have signed a parliament.uk petition calling on the government to “urgently review” its travel policy for South Africa “to ensure it is fully aligned with the latest scientific evidence” – which the petition’s creator suggests would involve removing the country from the red list.

The petition needed 10 000 signatures to force the UK government to respond, and respond they have, but not at all favourably to South Africa.

The petition was mainly supported by the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), which argues that “South Africa’s infection rate is tracking well below the UK and several European countries on the amber list.”

France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US have reopened travel to South Africa so the UK’s stance just looks “increasingly anomalous” Satsa added.

But the UK government said they would “not compromise on the progress we have made on our vaccine programme by allowing people to freely mix abroad and return or travel to the UK without proper checks and procedures.”

This is all outlined in the UK Department for Transport’s response to the petition’s plea, which was basically a big fat nope:

“This is just the start for opening international travel, with the UK leading the way with a robust system,” said the DfT. “As with all our coronavirus measures, we keep the red list under regular review, and our priority remains to protect the health of the public in the UK.

“Country allocations to the traffic light system are reviewed every three weeks unless concerning evidence means we need to act faster to protect public health.

“At the most recent review on August 4, it was decided that South Africa would remain on the red list as it continues to present a high public health risk to the UK from known variants of concern.”

Satsa’s work to have South Africa removed from the ‘red list’ will apparently continue.

If the petition reaches 100 000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in the UK Parliament.

[source:ttgmedia]