Whilst the President announced last night the reopening of personal care and dine-in restaurant services, his cabinet continues to provide very little meaningful relief to the tourism sector. In the Western Cape, almost half of all tourism businesses are closing and over 240 000 people stand to lose their livelihoods in the coming months.
MPP Deidré Baartman says: “The Western Cape is the country’s tourism breadbasket, but the tourism supply chain is still stifled during this stage of lockdown. Whilst we anticipate regulations will allow for accommodation services to open, travel across provinces for leisure remains closed. This means that hotels, bed and breakfasts, and self-catering establishments might get to open some doors, but their market is severely limited.”
President Ramaphosa specifically targeted that home sharing services will not be allowed to operate under revised level 3 lockdown, even though these accommodation options may be safer than hotels in ensuring social distancing takes place.
MPP Baartman adds: “Home sharing should be allowed to take place with similar strict protocols in place that will allow hairdressers to open for business. Furthermore, home shares such as Airbnbs could in many instances be used as self-isolation sites for those exposed to Covid-19 or awaiting results. There are over 17 000 Airbnb hosts in Cape Town alone. Of that number, over half use their revenues to pay bills and afford their homes.”
Tourist sites, such as beaches and certain attractions, are low-risk and could easily be open to the public whilst maintaining social distancing. Our law enforcement officers would be better off tackling rising levels of crime and gender-based violence rather than patrolling open spaces at the coast.
The Western Cape Government has rolled out the distribution of safety kits and accessible guidelines for businesses to safely engage customers. These same principles apply to the tourism industry.
The DA in the Western Cape calls on national government to urgently revisit lockdown regulations and allow for leisure tourism to reopen in a safe and responsible manner. This will save thousands of jobs, an industry, and help get the economy moving again as we work together to rescue lives and livelihoods.
Calls for WC Liquor Authority to work with licensees in flattening the curve