Regulations – as advised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his address on June 17 – do allow for intra-provincial travel for leisure.

This is from various tourism industry members – including the #SouthAfricaisTravelReady campaign members – who have stepped up messaging to social media platforms to ensure the confusion regarding the interpretation of these recently amended regulations is cleared up.

The confusion – remarked on by a number of Tourism Update readers on the social media pages – arose from the gazetted regulations (by the Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) on Friday morning and the press briefing held by Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.

NightsBridge Director and Founder, Neil Emerick, wrote in a comment to Tourism Update: “The Minister appears to be wrong in terms of what the regulations say. Section 39(2)(e) prohibits non-accredited accommodation ‘such as private homes for paid leisure accommodation’. This means leisure travel is open for ALL hotels and guest houses.”

A statement from the #SouthAfricaisTravelReady campaign confirms this, highlighting that while the regulations themselves do not allow for inter-provincial domestic leisure travel – as indicated by Minister Kubayi-Ngubane – the gazetted regulations (by the Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) allow travel for leisure (for anything that is allowed under Advanced Level Three).

“The regulations issued on Friday do outline specific economic exclusions, including short-term home-sharing, letting, leasing, rental for leisure purposes and, for now, domestic air travel for leisure,” said a spokesperson for the campaign.

She added that there were no exclusions outlined for intra-provincial domestic leisure overnight stays in “accredited and licensed accommodation”.

NOTE: To clarify, inter-provincial means travelling between provinces. Intra-provincial means residents can travel within their specific province.