As nations across the world look to recover their tourism industry from the effects of the COVID-19 situation, South Africa is already prospecting the recovery of its inbound market.
According to a report on tourismupdate.co.za, in the last five months of 2020, from August to December, arrivals from fellow African countries were almost 10 times higher than that of non-African arrivals. Previously, tourism numbers to South Africa from Africa had been subdued.
This highlights the importance of regional travel for rebuilding the tourism sector, said South African Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, referring to the results of the Road to Recovery Volume 2 report released by the tourism body earlier this month.
In general, arrivals from major African source markets were 62-94% lower than the previous year.
Overseas arrivals were an average of 90% lower than the same five month period in 2019, with the report highlighting that since borders to International travel were opened in August, the top 3 source markets were the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.
The report further notes that while early predictions were that global tourism could start to rebound by Q3, new variants of the virus, delayed global vaccination rollouts and unpredictable waves of new infections suggest that the recovery of international tourism will occur more gradually.
The feedback on the respective overseas regions is as follows:
AUSTRALASIA: Source markets have very low COVID-19 levels. However, vaccine roll-outs have been slow and restrictions on re-entry after travel to South Africa remain in place.
EUROPE: The UK has the strongest vaccination drive, and is on track to reach herd immunity by August, this will have a strong impact on demand for resuming travel. The outlook for travel in the rest of Europe remains low. Countries are currently entering a third wave of infections, and strong barriers to re-entry after travel remain in place.
AMERICAS: Despite high weekly infection rates in the United States, herd immunity should be reached by September. Requirements only for screening upon re-entry after travel from South Africa make travel more feasible.
However, the level of international tourism in South Africa is still more than 70% lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, according to the latest SAT report on the first three months of 2021.
SAT CEO Sisa Ntshona says these findings are in line with the global tourism market.
Ntshona says the resumption of international travel remains on hold amid large-scale vaccination rollouts across the world.
International tourists are only expected to return to South Africa in 2022.
We publish a report essentially every quarter because things are moving so quickly that we are trying to keep the market informed.
Sisa Ntshona, CEO – SA Tourism
No one is travelling globally… There simply is no movement. It’s all around the confidence to travel.
Sisa Ntshona, CEO – SA Tourism
We’re dubbing this year, “The Year of the Vaccine” because it’s probably our only hope that will reinstall confidence in people traveling again. Sisa Ntshona, CEO – SA Tourism
As far as South Africa is concerned, our borders are opened for anybody and everybody. The only requirement is that you have a negative test on arrival. Sisa Ntshona, CEO – SA Tourism