News 24 published an article this weekend about the plight of businesses in Franschhoek. It paints a horrific picture of the once famous Gourmet Town, known for its top Restaurants and boutique wineries, to what one business owner speculated could become a ‘Ghost Town’ if tourists do not return to it soon.
Franschhoek, like many other towns and cities in our country, has been hard hit by the Corona Virus pandemic, the South African one-year anniversary of its Lockdown to be ‘celebrated’ later this week. The new South African Virus mutation has made our country very unattractive to visit by international tourists, which probably are the type of tourists South African tourism businesses would love to see return. Continue reading →
In an interview with EWN, and reported by Business Tech, Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said that she ‘hopes’ that our country’s borders will be reopened to all foreign tourists before the holiday period commences in December. This speculation by the Minister comes against a background of a dramatic Second Wave spike in Covid-19 infections in many European countries, the UK, and the USA, which is expected to worsen as they face winter. 
In following a number of topics related to the Tourism industry, and being a member of the industry as a recently qualified Tourist Guide whose income has ground to a halt, the Tourism Relief Fund offered to the Tourism and Hospitality industry as financial relief during the COVID-19 pandemic is of special interest to me. Earlier this week the Department of Tourism was sent court papers by civil rights organisation AfriForum, for its alleged discrimination based on race in its funding criteria. Industry talk also is that the Fund benefits larger formal tourist companies, and does not provide relief for hundreds of informal freelance operators such as Tourist Guides, the unofficial face of South Africa, in showing international travelers the highlights of our country.