The Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, needs to urgently confirm that accommodation for leisure at licensed and accredited establishments is permitted under Alert Level 3.
At a press conference on Friday, 26 June 2020, Minister Kubayi-Ngubane stated that “accommodation for leisure is not yet allowed”. However, a careful reading of the amended Alert Level 3 regulations makes it clear that licensed and accredited accommodation establishments are allowed to operate for intra-provincial (within province) travel and are no longer restricted to only accept business travellers or persons requiring quarantine and isolation, and that travel for leisure purposes within one’s province is permitted.
This view is also shared by industry bodies, Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) and Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA). (Read related statement)
The tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis and allowing accommodation for leisure to open safely under Alert Level 3 will help to minimise further job losses and will accelerate industry recovery in the Western Cape.
We cannot afford the confusion, and so we call on the Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, to urgently clarify and confirm that the regulations do indeed permit accommodation for leisure purposes.
The tourism sector has already done a great deal of work to develop health and safety guidelines and protocols aimed at ‘de-risking’ the sector.
We also firmly believe that there are further aspects of the sector that can open safely under Alert Level 3, such as parks, beaches and other open-air and outdoor tourism attractions, and so we will continue to engage actively with the sector to assist them to put these safety measures in place.
