Why the controversial headline - why not say delay. It's as if everyone is looking to pick a fight. And back to the subject, what do you expect? Travel is where this virus got a foothold.

Travel and Tourism is ons of the biggest Employers and brings more foreign currency into SA than any other industry. This industry needs to get going asap, the virus will never vanish again it is here to stay and we need to start finding ways to live with it not ways to shut down live indefinitely. We cannot hop
from one Lockdown to another anda Vaccine if ever one is found is at least 18 months away, so we need to adapt, realize that we have learnt to live with all the other Coronavirus strains and carry on , some will get sick , most will show no symptoms and recover and very few , currently 0.5 percent of those getting sick might die , but the again 1.5 percent of the people that get the flu Anually die. We don't shut the world for that.

Yes indeed - Madman De Chaud if he reasons like that! Even if 50 000 people die, it leaves us with 59 550 000 healthy people suffering financially - it does not make sense. Deaths can contribute towards the GDP as Life policies are paid out and people can buy goods and services. P.S More people die of other diseases and illnesses

Raimondo, the problem is that in the Government Handbook of 2017 Tourism was already recognized as contributing 9 % of our GDP. That would make it second only to manufacturing according to the list of sectors the Presidency is working from. Unfortunately it is not on the list of sectors when they assess the economic value of each. So while one understands international tourism will be among the last to be opened, if its tourism sector was considered then it is likely that unrestricted domestic travel would be allowed sooner than the last step that it is now. They are going to allow miners underground as the first step. Why should a drive in the Kruger Park be the last step?
Someone needs to remind government that based on their own criteria they have published, tourism would be their most important sector to consider.

well said

Beg to differ mate. Virus got its foothold in wet bushmeat markets and congested cities. It may have been spread by travel, many different types, but not tourism alone!

well said

This is unfortunately a worldwide situation. Tourism is at the bottom of the list for recovery in all countries, especially international tourism.

" One in ten South African jobs is directly or indirectly linked to travel and tourism " ( Daily Maverick 22 Apr 2020 ). If this statement is correct, then where do the authors of the document quoted above derive their extremely low contributory percentages from? An important question, as data is going to determine when our sector is ever to get the green light.... Do we have anyone / any representative authority punting for the Travel/Tourism sector punting for us?

Agreed!

Are the percentages of GDP that Tourism/Travel contribute as quoted in the article correct - ie does the government have the correct data on which to base its future actions? Refer details from this morning's article by the Daily Maverick - our sector (2018) contributed 2.8 direct / 8.2% indirectly of GDP - with 4.2direct / 9.2% indirectly jobs.... (?). Who with any authority / representation is punting for the Tourism/Travel sector? https://www.dailymaverick.c...[0]=80895&tl_period_type=3&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Business%20Maverick%20Wednesday%2022%20April%202020&utm_content=Business%20Maverick%20Wednesday%2022%20April%202020+CID_a1334216d133a48ed7058ddda2ce67e1&utm_source=TouchBasePro&utm_term=Prepare%20now%20to%20open%20the%20skies%20for%20post-Covid-19%20international%20tourism

Tourism requires TOURISTs. We won't see many inbound tourists for a long time. We won't see many South African tourists until travel throughout SA is possible. This will only happen when the virus is considered to be under control, whatever that may mean.
The first tourists will be South Africans. The industry needs to be preparing for what South Africans want when travel throughout SA becomes possible. International travel could be restricted for years.

Great article here. Tourism Update you should ask if you can republish: https://www.dailymaverick.c... (hope it's acceptable to post this here!)

The broader tourism and its direct supply chain contributes close to 10% to SA GDP and nealy 10% of "jobs". The direct contribution of tourism is considerably lower - near 3%. Travel, in the broader supply chain sense, is the big SMME and jobs producer in SA and will become the biggest driver for these two areas as tourism recovers. Tourism lists as the most important strategic economic value product of the future SA ticking All the boxes of the measurement table, BUT it is at the highest risk of spreading the Covid 19 virus of all industries. Corona arrived was delivered world wide courtesy of travel - particularly air travel.
SO to put it plainly in the short term there can't reasonably be anything but limited and restricted travel and leisure activity (including sport). In the longer term it remains the biggest potential job producer and the biggest SMME business driver.
David Marsh makes a telling and insightful point: Local and regional tourism restrictions need to be lifted as soon as possible. to do this faster and more effectively we, the tourism businesses, will need to bring in our own safety measures and ideas to present to government which we must push as an industry. Government is NOT in the ideas business, nor is it very well versed in SMME business. So its up to us to create the solutions and to push them to government through the travel and tourism associations in SA.
One thing is for certain, local and then regional tourism by road can and will pick up in the short and medium term. This will be boosted by far more locals going "out of town" - initially close by, but then further as everyone will want to get out of the city for a break for a long time to come. On the bight side the locals with good savings or incomes who were going abroad will now want to travel locally so we need to capitalise on this market.
Lastly to all out of town lodges, self catering and shared accommodation places there is a great opportunity to rent out longer term stays for those people who can and will want to work from home but who are already wanting to get out of the "maddening crowd" of the packed cities in SA. You will need to have great Wifi to get this business.
Alan Roxton Wiggill: Dinokeng JunXion travel & tourism business owner and destination marketing consultant.

I think we need to be rational about this. At this stage, who is going to travel? If our businesses do not have the income, there is no benefit except for increasing the risk of transmission. That being said, I believe that there are parts of the industry where travel should be counted as an essential service - hotels and food outlets that provide facilities to those in other essential services, e.g. supply chains, merchandisers, producers. There are many types of business transactions that cannot be undertaken remotely. Our products and services that fit into this category should be opened up.

Agreed

These 27 pages might be a death sentence for many more players in our industry. We all realized that we could pretty much write off international inbound travel for 2020, but if the strategy outlined in the document is being followed, we can also write off all domestic travel. There should be a very clear distinction between international and domestic travel. I agree with David, it appears government has no clue what the actual value / contribution of the tourism sector to the GDP is.

It makes you wonder where they get their stats from ! A thumb suck !
I understood that tourism accounts for 10% of GDP and this is REAL money coming into the country , Dollars, Euros and Pounds ! Wake up government

Nothing new there. Tourism is only important to politicians, when they themselves travel.