LETTER: Tourism will suffer from state of disaster by stealth

The regulations gazetted by the department of health add additional unnecessary obstacles to tourism, travel and the hospitality sector and its growth in SA. It is clear that the government has a concerted plan to retain the dominating control it enjoys under the state of disaster, beyond the state of disaster.

This is clear when analysing these regulations — restrictions that have over time been shown to be ineffective in countering Covid-19 are included. An example is the requirement for any traveller leaving SA to have in their possession a valid vaccination certificate or negative PCR test not more than 72 hours before departure, regardless of the requirements of their destination country. The same imposition exists for travellers entering the country.

This is an attempt to keep the state of disaster in perpetuity by stealth. These illogical and unnecessary regulations have a direct impact on tourism as more and more potential tourists find them too expensive and onerous. As a result, they choose other destinations that are making it easier and simpler to enter their countries.

This means the resuscitation of the SA tourism and travel sector cannot take place as existing tourism businesses cannot work at surviving again, and those that closed due to the job-killing lockdown cannot attempt to reopen. The government’s lack of urgency is contributing to the unemployment rate. 

The latest regulations again prove that the greatest culprit in destroying jobs and the economy remains the ANC. The ANC government’s doublespeak shows that while it talks about economic growth and job creation, its actions show us the very opposite.

Manny de Freitas, MP
DA shadow tourism minister

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