The South African Ministry of Health has issued a statement: COVID-19 restrictions will be completely lifted, both for domestic and international travel. Tourism in the country celebrates “Birthday”.
Of all the major sectors of the economy affected by the lockdowns imposed by the authorities, tourism has by far been the hardest hit. Until 2019, tourism in South Africa was valued at over R$130 billion, employed 4.5 percent of the employed population, and contributed 3 percent to GDP.
“In July 2021, only 5,000 foreign tourists visited South Africa – only 2.6 percent of those who arrived in the same month two years earlier,” economists calculated. “The good news is that the recovery of the domestic tourism industry should catch up as early as this summer.”
Representatives of the country’s tourism authorities expressed great relief that the tourism industry is on the path to recovery.
For the past two years, the country has been “under the hood”, and was included in the “Red Lists” of especially dangerous due to new strains of the virus. In December last year – and this is one of the peak months for tourism in South Africa – the tourist flow almost stopped. The industry has suffered enormous damage.
Experts believe that the lifting of restrictions should be a huge boost to the resumption of tourism to South Africa and the greater South African region.