TOURISM
GO BACK TO GO While Covid-19 has undoubtedly changed life – and travel habits – beyond all recognition, the current crisis state will be temporary. Even while the battle against the disease goes on, countries and their governing administrations are looking ahead at what must be done to return society to some semblance of normality. Although the immediate impact to the industry has been bitter, there should be no further radical structural changes needed unless it falls prey to further unforeseeable shocks in quick succession. What is expected is that with careful management, and using a staged approach, governments will be able to move their tourism sectors into recovery, and that they will eventually rebound.
Resume long-term ambitions When the sector is in a healthier state, countries can pursue their longterm tourism ambitions, which may differ from their pre-pandemic state.
Article courtesy: Kearney Consulting
STAGE THREE: REBOUND Resume long-term ambitions, but prepare for future shocks Develop contingency plans New diseases will continue to strike. These have become more frequent in the past few decades and are one of the top risks to human life and society. With tourism bearing the brunt of the impact on industry each time, becoming truly resilient means preparing for future shocks by anticipating risks with solid contingency plans in place. Countries are building these capabilities. In Spain, the national tourism plan was built around major trends that could affect the sector, while Finland launched its own future-facing tourism project several years ago.
THE SA STORY According to Tourism 2020 released by Statistics SA, the direct contribution of the tourism sector to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was R130.1-billion in 2018 and constituted nearly 3% direct contribution to GDP. In 2018, the tourism sector contributed about 4.5% of total employment in South Africa. In 2020, the volume of tourists decreased by 72.6% from 10.2-million in 2019 to 2.8-million in 2020. The distribution of tourists by region of residence shows that 74.8% of the tourists who arrived in South Africa in 2020 were residents of the SADC countries and 1.5% were from other African countries. These two sub-regions constituted a total of 76.3% tourists from Africa. Residents of overseas countries made up 23.6% of the tourists. On 16 March 2020, President Ramaphosa announced measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 in South Africa. These measures were in line with reducing and monitoring inward as well as departing travellers. Later a travel ban on selected foreign nationals from high-risk countries into South Africa was enforced. Of the 53 land
ports, 35 were shut down, as well as two of the eight seaports. The Level 5 (hard) lockdown introduced by the president in March 2020 resulted in numbers dropping drastically for both incoming and outgoing travellers. South Africa did not receive visitors from April to September 2020. In 2020, tourists from the UK topped the overseas visitor list. When comparing the 2020 volumes with 2019, the number of tourists decreased in all 10 leading overseas countries. Australia had the largest percentage decrease of visitors to South Africa (81.4%). Overall, holiday continued to be the main reason for visits to South Africa. A majority (96%) of tourists came for holidays while businesspersons, students and medical treatment constituted 3.1%, 0.9% and 0.1% respectively of the 2020 tourists. In 2020, tourists from overseas and other African countries spent, on average, seven and five days per month respectively in South Africa, compared to tourists from SADC who spent only two days. Tourists continued to be predominantly male (53.8%).
Source: StatsSA
Number of tourists visiting South Africa in 2019 and 2020.
Tourists visiting South Africa from the top 10 overseas countries in 2020.
Globally, countries are competing to capture the market for remote workers. This is an important market right now, as this type of tourist is more resilient to the challenges that traditional tourism is facing given ongoing travel restrictions. Such tourists will be an important source of sustainable tourism post-pandemic. Announcing his support for a “remote working visa”, Premier Alan Winde says: “Given the severe impact that Covid-19 has had on the tourism sector in South Africa, this innovative visa would be a great contribution to our recovery.” Wesgro is launching a dedicated portal that promotes services for longer-stay options in the Western Cape, following a successful campaign with Airbnb to encourage remote working domestically. Cape Town has made the 2021 list for the 50 Best Cities for Remote Working according to Big 7 Travel.
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