BL Premium reports that the government and the tourism sector have reacted with dismay after the UK decided to maintain tough restrictions on travel between the two countries, despite easing them on others such as Kenya and Pakistan.

They warned of possible long-term damage to both countries. SA’s tourism sector, which before the outbreak of Covid-19 was a rare outperformer in an economy that failed to grow, has been devastated by lockdowns and travel bans. Being on the UK red list means British travellers to SA would on their return need to spend 10 days in a quarantine hotel at a cost of about £2,000 (R40,000), making visiting SA too expensive for most Britons. The SA government, which has drawn criticism for being largely passive and silent on the bans that have led to the tourism industry losing close to 500,000 jobs, said it would intensify efforts to get SA off the list. "There is no reasonable basis for keeping SA on the red list and I am very disappointed," international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor said on Sunday, citing SA’s declining infection rate and a vaccination programme that was gathering pace. The UK is traditionally among the most important tourism markets for SA, with 430,000 people having visited in 2019, the year before the pandemic brought the industry to a standstill. Britain started restricting travel from SA late in 2020 after local scientists discovered the Beta variant, which was then referred to internationally as the "SA variant". Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of SA, called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Andries Mahlangu at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Read too, ‘Western Cape tourism recovery dealt a blow by UK red list,’ says MEC David Maynier, at Independent Media

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