The Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATTHSETA) has confirmed that it has eradicated the backlog for the certification of learners, including learner tourist guides, in the Western Cape. This comes after the Western Cape Standing Committee resolved last month to engage with CATTHSETA after it surfaced that some learner guides had been waiting for up to a year to receive their certificates and the Committee urgently requested the eradication of this backlog.
However, much more needs to be done to rescue the tourism industry. Both local and international travel restrictions have left the industry across the country on its knees, with hundreds of thousands of jobs already lost since the start of the pandemic. National government and its entities must prioritise the recovery of the sector which accounted for 9.1% of total employment in South Africa and injected R129.9 billion into the economy in 2019. A study of 400 businesses in hospitality in the Western Cape found that 66% of businesses indicated that they would lose between 75% and 100% of their income for July/August 2021. Worryingly, 33% of businesses said that they were forced to retrench staff due to the latest lockdown regulations.
MPP Deidré Baartman says: “We commend CATTHSETA on its work to reduce its backlog and ensure that learners are recognised for the hard work that they have put in. We have also received confirmation from the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism that they have not again received further complaints in this regard.
But ultimately, for learners to make use of their training, jobs in the sector need to become available. We have previously called for a comprehensive support package for the tourism industry and for national government to fulfil its role in supporting the thousands of families who are dependent on the sector.
An additional way in which the national government can support the sector is through a key regulatory intervention. We support calls for the urgent introduction of a Remote Work Visa for international visitors. Both the City of Cape Town and DEDAT have called for this critical visa and MEC Maynier, in May, submitted a proposal which highlighted that this step would support the entire industry. By allowing tourists to work remotely in the Western Cape, the sector could recover, jobs could be created and the local economy would stand to benefit.”
Deployment of additional LEAP Officers welcomed