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The Western Cape awaits international tourism regulations.
- The Western Cape government is eagerly awaiting regulations on which countries will be allowed to fly to South Africa.
- This is to get its lucrative tourism market back on track as the summer season approaches.
- Meanwhile, freight trips are picking up in time for Black Friday and Christmas sales.
The Western Cape government is eagerly waiting for the international travel regulations to be announced so that it can find out which countries will be able to fly to South Africa during Tier 1.
Tier 1 begins at midnight on Sunday, and international flights will resume from three major airports starting October 1 after a massive global flight was shut down to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
READ | South Africa’s Borders Open October 1 – Here’s What You Need to Know
Plans were underway to get the 31 nonstop flights back on track; surveillance and monitoring plans were ready in case there was a second wave; and all that remained was to know from which countries South Africa would receive flights.
Visitors from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany were the most predominant among international travelers to the province.
The province was the first to be affected by the pandemic and was confident that the worst had happened for now.
Vigilant
Prime Minister Alan Winde said people must remain vigilant to show that the southern tip of Africa “can do it safely.”
Some areas like Oudtshoorn, Stanford and Wupperthal were still experiencing sudden increases in cases at different times than the rest of the province and these were being monitored, but the overall picture was of a large reduction in cases.
Monitoring would include wastewater sampling to test for possible prevalence in areas, plus immunity tests and scaling-up testing again.
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Although it was not yet clear who would pay for the Covid-19 test required for international flights, the deceased from the province’s health department, Dr. Keith Cloete, anticipated that the traveler would likely have to pay for it, with travel clinics. possibly get involved.
Cloete said there were also no more excess deaths in the Western Cape and now the focus was on preventing a second wave of the virus that many other countries had.
Pattern
Cloete said that the pandemic pattern in South Africa was very different from that of many first world countries.
He said the number of people who contracted the virus began to decline even during the previous lifting of lockdown restrictions.
He attributed this to vigilance and behavior change.
However, the next two or three months would be key to see if there was a second wave.
Meanwhile, Wesgro CEO Tim Harris, MEC Economic Affairs David Maynier and Cape Town Air Access’ Paul van den Brink, were working on marketing the province and reestablishing flights, particularly the 31 direct flights to the City of London International Airport. Cape to help hospitality. and the tourism sectors recover.
Van den Brink said the decision to restart international flights in October was also a good move, coinciding with the opening of the summer season for tourists and the arrival of cargo for Black Friday and Christmas sales for businesses. .
