BusinessLive reports that more than 90,000 jobs in Cape Town’s tourism sector could be wiped out over six months as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to be felt.  

This was indicated by a new survey conducted by Cape Town Tourism, the city’s marketing body.  The sector is a key foreign currency earner and jobs driver in SA.  It is responsible for almost 740,000 jobs nationally and just more than 113,000 in Cape Town alone.  The Cape Town Tourism survey found that many businesses would not be able to survive an extended period of lockdown, with only 4% noting that they had the resources to survive more than a year.  About 83% of businesses indicated that they would not survive longer than six months under the current lockdown conditions.  Furthermore, 56% of businesses did not have a recovery plan in place.  While many businesses have explored various relief options, the vast amount of paperwork has deterred some of them, while others did not meet the requirements for relief.  There has been a significant effect on employees of tourism businesses as 36% of respondents indicated that they were only able to provide partial pay to staff, while 31% have staff on unpaid leave, and a further 18% have had to retrench workers.  

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive

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