A new Covid variant and SA's return to the UK’s red list sent shockwaves through the leisure industry, with shares in hotel groups plummeting as holiday bookings were cancelled
Following extensive talks between President Cyril Ramaphosa and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to relax travel limits between the two countries, quarantine-free travel could soon be on the cards for travellers.
Another report by Stats SA on tourism and migration for December 2020 showed that foreign arrivals decreased by 82.1% (from 1.5 million arrivals in December 2019 to 279,539 in December 2020).
The report showed that while 163,335 tourists came from Europe in December 2019, only 26,880 arrived from the continent in December 2020.
While 772,945 visitors came from other African countries in December 2019, only 161,358 arrived in December last year.
Tshivhengwa said the TBCSA made a presentation before the tourism portfolio committee this week on how bad the situation was and how it was deteriorating every day. He said the restrictions put in place at the end of December, when President Cyril Ramaphosa placed the country on adjusted level 3 lockdown, did not help.