What the Gauteng Travel Ban Means for Tourism: Blessing Manale Gives Insight
- National Tourism Spokesperson Blessing Manale revealed that it is currently too early to determine the impact of the 14-day restrictions
- The news comes after Gauteng was basically put into its own mini-lockdown which prohibits leisure travel to and from the province
- Manale spoke to Briefly News where he revealed a few things about the tourism sector and the impact the lockdown has had so far
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The country was recently moved to Alert Level 4 where the banning of the sale of alcohol was immediately prohibited to stop the spread of Covid-19 infections. On the other hand, a travel ban was issued for Gauteng.
Leisure travel to and from Gauteng is prohibited. Blessing Manale, National Tourism Spokesperson, stated that it is too early to tell what the impact of the 14-day restrictions will have on tourism in Gauteng.
Speaking with Briefly News, Manale said that the understanding and the reality is that the lockdown implication on tourism is the same in Gauteng as in all provinces due to the additional restrictions on movement.
Source: Getty Images
"The regulation of events, restaurants, liquor, gatherings etc are all but the same in all provinces. The government is working with the various industry partners in ensuring that any misunderstandings and constraints affecting the tourism operations during this Level 4 are clarified and rectified."
Manale stated that business travel and other economic activities underlying the economy of the province will continue to operate, for example airports, hotels and public transport.
"This will aid in cushioning the economic impact of a total shutdown, whilst at the same time ensuring that the province situation does not worsen as it relates to the containment of the virus and the rising cases of infections."
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Manale continued:
"There is no other decision that the government collectively would have taken as it relates to an announcement made by the President yesterday.
"As government and the various social partners, we will use the 14 days to amplify messages on the non-pharmaceutical interventions, promote our safety norms and standards for the tourism sector, encourage compliance and ensure enforcement as we accelerate that various categories of legible citizens continue to go through the current phase of the vaccination programme."
'Family meeting' results in the country's move to Alert Level 4
Previously, Briefly News reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa warned the country that we face another grave challenge with hospital admissions on the rise, and Covid-19 infections are getting worse with the peak of this wave being higher than the previous two.
As a result, new restrictions will be put into place as South Africa moves to Alert Level 4.
A massive resurgence of infections is being experienced in South Africa as the third wave of infections sweeps across the country with more than 11 400 people currently hospitalised with Covid-19 with private and government facilities buckling under the pressure with ICU beds in short supply.
Existing containment measures not enough to deal with the 3rd wave
The only way to combat the virus is to reduce the person-to-person contact, which proved to be the best way to flatten the rate of infection during the first and second waves.
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Source: Briefly News
