This week’s top comment refers to Tourism Update’s article on the Western Cape pushing for a reopening of intercontinental air travel in October to avoid losing a potential R16.2bn (€789m).

MD of Wild Wings Safaris, Onne Vegter, writes:

“Taking this government to court may be the only option. They have shown time and again they are not interested in saving the economy, and will kill millions of jobs and livelihoods in a futile effort to contain the virus at all costs.

They have proven over and over that they will not listen to science, to think tanks or lobby groups, to industry associations, even to the WHO (which is calling for international borders to reopen).

There is no rational basis to keep borders closed to countries with much lower infection rates than our own. Airline screening and robust tourism safety protocols ensure that tourism can be conducted safely, and the risk from an international tourist from a country with low numbers of active cases is much lower than the risk from local commuters going to work in a packed taxi, or to a funeral or church service with 50 people.

But this government does not think like that. Even now that our own numbers are dropping, provincial leisure travel and international borders remain firmly closed, by order of the NCCC. Tourism is losing over R700m (€33.8m) PER DAY while borders remain closed, but the total tourism relief fund was a paltry R200m (€9.6m).

The Western Cape alone has lost billions in tourism revenue as this article indicates. What is a measly R200m (€9.6m) going to do? This government has lost all the respect, credibility, support and goodwill it once had from the good people in tourism.”

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