South Africa’s tourism industry is starting to see some green shoots but the sector needs to be careful not to neglect domestic travellers, who have been loyal and helped to keep doors open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was the advice from tourism business leaders, who also raised concerns about the assistance SMMEs in the sector still needed to be able to compete effectively.  They were speaking at a recent webinar on reviving and reinventing the local SMME tourism industry sector post COVID-19.

Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, said the industry was “starting to see some green shoots, especially from a domestic perspective”. He said, overall, tourism revenue, including accommodation and car hire, in December 2021 had equalled 64% of revenue earned in December 2019.

“It is possible hotels were full because people travelled but at a heavily discounted price. Overall, the picture is better than it used to be when we were going through hard lockdown. People are getting out of their houses and really travelling in their own country and that bodes well for tourism.

“We want that to be reflected across big and small businesses. SMMEs want to go back to work and the only way out of the crisis is to work our way out, failing which there have to be grants awarded so that businesses can bounce back,” Tshivhengwa said.

Bounce-back scheme

However, he said the bounce-back scheme had to be geared toward small businesses to apply for grant funding, while accessibility to the market for domestic travellers should be supported.

“Loans don’t necessarily help small businesses because they just pile up debt and eventually they are going to suffocate,” he said.

Motsamayi Tourism Group CEO, Jerry Mabena, said the issue of affordability was a starting point to further stimulate domestic travel. He said since the advent of the economically crippling pandemic, lodges and hotels had dropped prices by up to 50% after then Tourism Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, had suggested a two-tier pricing model for international and SADC region tourists.

"We dropped prices to encourage South Africans to visit our destinations and South Africans responded. So, the challenge really is post COVID-19 when the international market starts looking at us again. Do we ignore them when they have been faithful to us in tough times? We have made it unaffordable to them for the longest time. For SMMEs, 90% of the travel will be domestic so the issue of dual pricing becomes a moot point,” Mabena said.

Tshepo Matlou, Head of Marketing and Communications at Jurni, said it was high time SMMEs were more competitive.  

“Businesses in township and rural areas need to get online. It is time that we start experiencing our culture and understanding where people come from and people who come to SA must experience it through the eye of a local person,” Matlou said.