“We did it, no more PCR for fully vaccinated travellers.”
These were the jubilant words from the CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, who – along with industry bodies such FEDHASA and SATSA – has long been lobbying for the costly tests to be scrapped.
In his address to the nation earlier this evening (March 22), President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced changes to Alert Level 1 lockdown regulations which included an announcement that international travellers entering South Africa will need to show proof of vaccination or get a PCR test prior to travel.
This is good news not only for the inbound tourism industry, but for travel agents too, whose potential travellers have been hesitant to travel, daunted by the extra expense of having to have a PCR test in order to return to South Africa. Or even worse, travellers have feared testing positive in a foreign country and having to quarantine or isolate at their own expense until they test negative and are permitted to board a flight to return home.
Other welcome changes to the regulations include that masks are no longer mandatory outdoors and that both indoor and outdoor venues can now take up to 50% of their capacity, which makes a more viable matrix for the conference industry. The 50% rule is with the proviso that the criterion for entrance to the venue is proof of vaccination or a COVID-19 test not older than 72 hours.
President Ramaphosa added: “All unvaccinated travellers entering the country who wish to be vaccinated will be offered a vaccination.”
Another obstacle
Despite the jubilation this will no doubt cause in both the inbound and outbound industries, there is still an obstacle to overcome is the draft regulations issued by the Department of Health last week which, in their current format, continue to place unnecessary obstacles to the growth of tourism in South Africa, according to Rosemary Anderson, National Chairperson of FEDHASA.
“The draft regulations retain meaningless restrictions that are no longer fit for purpose, such as temperature checks, recording lists of patrons and other restrictions that have already been proved not to be a useful way to stop the spread of COVID. It’s like we’ve gone backwards to the beginning of the pandemic,” highlighted Anderson.
What’s more, there is a further clause (15 B), that requires a traveller exiting South Africa to have in their possession a valid vaccination certificate or negative PCR test not more than 72 hours before departure, regardless of the requirements of their destination country.
