Image: SA TOURISM
There is no reason tourism poses a greater risk than any other sector by being open, says a Wits professor.
Prof Alex van den Heever, chair in the field of social security systems administration and management studies at the Wits School of Governance, said SA was shooting itself in the foot by keeping tourism closed as there is “no public health reason to do so”.
Despite medical experts saying the industry is low risk enough for borders to reopen due to the sector’s stringent health and hygiene safety protocols adopted, SA remains firmly shut for the foreseeable future. It has a stringent visa regime and quarantine requirement under the National Disaster Act that would severely constrain demand for inbound international tourism even if borders were to reopen tomorrow.
“SA already has community infections and therefore needs to manage the risk to the general community and the traveller in an environment in which the disease is already present.” This is unlike the situation of countries such as New Zealand and South Korea which have focused their strategies on disease elimination. For SA and Europe this horse has long bolted, he argues.
“In the South African context, if an infected person comes to our country, it would be much the same as if someone from Benoni travelled to Johannesburg.
“Almost every area in SA was seeded, so we will see a bubbling up of the virus only if we back off from being careful and expose communities to super-spreading events. So we need to be cautious and adhere to health protocols until there is a safe and effective vaccine,” said Van den Heever.