Flight restrictions continue to rein in Eastern Cape tourism

Amid the news of chaotic management of new Covid-19 protocols for international inbound travellers, Eastern Cape tourism is struggling to emerge from the lockdown.

On Sunday, tourism industry WhatsApps were flying about new visa requirements being imposed on travellers from Germany — one of the few countries which SA has declared welcome — as well as that incoming flight crews will have to be quarantined.

Both these issues are jeopardising the resuscitation of a vital flow of foreign exchange into SA, tourism operators say.

But, at the same time, domestic tourism appears to be growing and there is a huge opportunity to ramp up local tourism with innovative marketing and securing, maintaining and showcasing home-grown products.

Port Elizabeth-based Mantis Collection founder Adrian Gardiner, whose company manages 30 game reserves, lodges and boutique hotels worldwide, said the situation was critical.

“Leisure travel has been banned for seven months and with this second wave of the pandemic now sweeping through our important visitor countries, we’re not likely to see that change for the foreseeable future.

“Most times when you hit challenges in our business, you can see when it will end.

“With this situation, there is no end in sight.”

While SA was open to German travellers, their government required them to quarantine after returning home and this would likely dissuade many possible tourists, he said.

“The chaos we’re hearing about this morning [Sunday] makes things even more difficult,” Gardiner said.

One of the crisis points highlighted in social media posts early on Sunday was that the pre-Covid-19 visa-waiver status enjoyed by tourists from Germany and several other countries had not been reinstated — despite an assurance from the SA government that it would be once international travel opened up —  resulting in confusion and consternation.

The tourism department failed to respond to questions sent to it on Sunday.

Gardiner said Mantis had been forced to retrench 100 people in its travel business section and 150 across its 12 SA properties.

“So it’s catastrophic. I'm not trying to be negative, just practical,” he said.

“I don’t think the tourism department understands the importance of foreign exchange.

“The government needs to talk to the tourism industry, which it has not been doing since the start of the lockdown.

"Once that starts happening then we can start eradicating problems together.”

Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) chair Shaun van Eck said while there were a lot of problems at international tourism level, this could be balanced by innovative marketing.

But that area, in turn, was letting the industry down at present.

He said Bay tourism had taken a huge hit.

“The opening of interprovincial borders has had little impact on our domestic leisure travel and the best accommodation occupancy rates are still well below 50% of the levels needed to even achieve break even.

“Realistically, we will probably not see significant increases in overseas arrivals until the summer of 2021.”

There seemed to be little appetite, meanwhile, to involve local products around the country in marketing, yet that was where tourism power presently lay, Van Eck said.

“Social media and recommendation sites probably now drive 80% of the momentum to get people into the purchase journey and dreaming, and then to actually buy the holiday.”

With this dynamic in mind, NMBT in partnership with the municipal economic development, tourism and agriculture department had been developing an exciting strategy to reposition the metro, he said.

“We need a strong partnership with our locals to attract local and overseas friends and relatives during December and January.

“If we provide experiences that result in compelling social media posts and ratings from these visitors, we will secure a greater market share than before the pandemic and set our tourism industry up for the future.”

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Nomkhita Mona said the chamber was eager to see the return of international visitors to the Eastern Cape as these guests typically contributed 20-25% of the total direct tourist spend in any given year in the Bay alone.

The chamber was disappointed that the government had decided to exclude some of the region’s major inbound traveller sources, she said.

“The UK, US, Netherlands and France remain on the blacklist of high-risk countries for inbound leisure travel.

"One must question this logic — does it really matter what country one is travelling from if a potential traveller has completed the required test within 72 hours of departure?

"We hope rationality will prevail and that many more major countries will be removed from the blacklist shortly.”

Port Elizabeth Metro Bed and Breakfast Association (Pembba) chair Shena Wilmot said business was still very slow but there were signs the situation was improving.

“International borders may be open but, of course, that doesn’t apply to everyone and we still cannot receive travellers from our important source countries.”

She said Pembba members understood the challenge associated with a second Covid-19 spike in several overseas countries and were not realistically expecting to be immediately flooded with bookings.

“Our concern is not bookings for this weekend but for next year because overseas holidays take planning, and, until international travel opens completely and stabilises, that situation will not improve.”

The authorities had urged accommodation providers to turn to the domestic market, she said.

“But local people do not have money.

“For the upcoming festive season, we will certainly not be where we were last year.

“There is some hope for Christmas but even where people did not have their salaries docked, in many cases bonuses may not be paid — and many people travel on their bonuses.”

Wilmot said the best thing Bay tourism providers and the metro could do in the meantime was to make sure they were ready for when the tourists did start arriving.

“We need safety to be ensured, we need streets and historical sites to be cleaned and cared for.”

HeraldLIVE