I refer you to the President’s announcement on Sunday 15 March 2020  of  a national state of disaster, specifically under the banner of the Disaster Management Act (Section 27). This Act is intended to ensure the well-being of all the people of the Republic of South Africa.  A national command council, chaired by the President, has also been established that will meet three times a week.

Global concerns continue to rise regarding the spread of COVID-19, and additional cases – outside of the initial limited group of travelers from Italy – are unfortunately being confirmed in South Africa.  In addition to other challenges we already face the COVID-19 pandemic will no doubt have a profound negative impact on the travel industry and our businesses.  As an industry we need to unite with a measured and well-informed response, and fact-based decision making, to enhance the health and safety of our destination now, and secure its positive reputation for the future.

Whilst we need to focus our attention on containing the spread of the virus, and complying with any potential forthcoming government directives, we also need to support our clients and industry through this crisis to limit the long-term negative effects and position ourselves to nurture any related positive opportunities we can identify.

The TTA will share as much information and assistance as possible to assist in combating the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. Please find template protocols, baseline planning documents etc. (see the right-hand column on this page), which you are welcome to use in your environments to assist with planning and implementation of heightened measures.

We urge members to proactively undertake scenario planning, and to draw up business continuity plans for all possible scenarios, to limit the long term negative effects of this situation as far as possible.  Some general advice for the travel industry is to, for instance, relax terms and conditions to allow clients to postpone rather than cancel, to implement and communicate heightened measures to reassure clients who continue to travel and meet, protect and train staff and keep them informed.

Similarly we urge members to remain well informed regarding the COVID-19 situation by gathering and sharing information only from credible sources.  To this end we recommend the following sources of information:

For international information, updates and resources – World Health Organisation

For local information, updates and resources – The National Institute for Communicable Diseases

For local industry specific information – SA National Department of Tourism

For international tourism industry specific information – World Tourism Organisation