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By marvin charles 
15h ago
CTT released a new report on how local tourism suffered under Covid-19 regulations.
The report followed a survey in which 35 percent of the respondents were accommodation providers, 29% of tour operators, 15% in the business of attractions or activities, 7% of restaurants and the rest were made up of stores and shopping malls, transport operators, car rental. , conference rooms, travel agencies, language schools and warehouses.
CTT Chief Executive Enver Duminy said: “It is important for us to get a clear picture and understand the current landscape.
“According to the latest figures available from Statistics SA, the added value of tourism to the South African economy was approximately R118.4 billion, the added value of tourism to the Cape Town economy in 2018 was approximately R18.1bn. In the same year, according to the same source, the tourism sector in South Africa directly supported almost 740,000 jobs and just over 113,000 jobs in Cape Town.
“These figures illustrate how vital this sector is to our economy. That’s why it’s important for us to understand where our members and other industry stakeholders need more help to make sure we provide them with the support they need to survive. “
The Cape Town Tourism Covid-19 Impact Report noted that 56% of companies do not have a recovery plan. While many have explored various aid options, some have noted that the large amount of paperwork has deterred them, while others explain that they do not meet the much-needed aid requirements. There has been a significant impact on employees of tourism companies, as 36% of respondents mentioned that they could only provide partial payment to staff, 31% had unpaid, licensed staff and another 18% had laid off employees.
Most companies will not be able to survive under a prolonged lockout.
A total of 83% of companies indicated that they would not survive more than six months under current closing conditions.
Only 4% said they have the resources to survive more than a year.
“We involve the government at all levels to consider working with tourism in applying our enhanced safety protocols to reduce health risks and improve local tourism at least at Level 3, and domestic tourism at Level 2 in the short term, “Duminy said.
James Vos, a Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management, said: “These are very painful numbers and indicate the extent of the economic crisis we are facing as a result of Covid 19. However, we are hopeful that we will be able to recover some of these jobs once we finally get out of this crisis. ”
The executive president of the SA Tourism Business Council, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, said that the impact on the industry could be even more severe than anticipated: “We conducted our own survey and in the tourism industry alone there are 600,000 employees who have applied for UIF . What is even more worrying is that these are jobs that would be difficult to recover and we are pressing the government at least to open national flights, so there is a certain stimulus in the economy. “
Executive Director of the Federated Hospitality Federation of South Africa, Lee Zama, said: “The loss of jobs reverses the path to SA’s economic growth. We need immediate measures to counter this scourge. A gradual opening of this sector from level 4 “.
[email protected]Cape Argus
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