While 35% to 69% of businesses have applied for the various financial relief programmes available – including the R200m from the Department of Tourism and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) – the success rate of these applications is still “universally low in these early days”.
This is according to the Tourism Industry Survey of South Africa: COVID-19’ survey conducted by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The survey – conducted in April and surveying around 1 600 respondents across the travel and tourism sector – highlighted that, of those companies that applied for relief, only 1% to 8% believe that the various schemes offered value.
The authors of the report noted that this implied that the schemes’ benefits were not clear or that the schemes were insufficient to assist, given the severity of the financial circumstances faced by these businesses.
“The sector is the lifeblood for many micro and small enterprises, often the only economic activity in rural and remote areas, and creates employment opportunities for men, women and youth across the country,” said TBCSA chairman, Blacky Komani.
“We are going through an unprecedented crisis, and there is urgent need to support our existing industry and plan for longer-term recovery,” he said, pointing out that last year, South Africa received 10,4 million international tourism trips and tourism saw a total injection of R273,2 billion into the South African economy in 2018.
Tourism supports 740 000 direct jobs and over 1,5 million indirect jobs across the economy, according to Blacky.
IFC country manager for South Africa, Adamou Labara, agreed that tourism played a vital role in South Africa’s economic development. “The survey results show that it’s not only important to help businesses manage the crisis now, but to also work together to find solutions to help with recovery and job preservation.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
The ‘Tourism Industry Survey of South Africa: COVID-19’ indicated that 99% of tourism and travel businesses in South Africa were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism directly and indirectly supports 8,6% of South Africa’s GDP. Its economic activity encompasses all non-commuter passenger travel, car hire, a wide range of accommodation types, a vast array of activities and attractions, conference centres, retail and restaurants and services such as tour operators, travel agents, and conference and event organisers, amongst others.
