President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will shortly publish an expanded list of international countries from where travel will be permitted.
The President said this when he tabled South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday.
The Coronavirus pandemic has left the tourism and hospitality sector on its knees, with some establishments failing to re-open after the economy was restarted gradually.
“Although international tourist travel is likely only to recover in the medium-term, our efforts are now focused on implementing an efficient e-visa system and extending visa waivers to new tourism markets.
“To support tourism over this peak tourism season, we will shortly be publishing an expanded list of countries from where resumption of international travel will be permitted, which will be supported by targeted marketing in partnership with the private sector,” he said.
Calls for South Africans to take a shot’ left
The President said, meanwhile, that one of the ways to support the recovery of the tourism sector is for South Africans to explore their own country.
“We urge South Africans to continue to explore their country in support of tourism recovery as one of the hardest hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We will shortly publish the revised list of critical skills, occupations in high demand and priority occupations to enable highly skilled individuals to be speedily recruited and expedite the issuing of special skills visas to support local firms.
“We are promoting greater private sector participation in rail, including through granting third-party access to the core rail network and the revitalisation of branch lines.
“We will establish a single economic regulator in transport, as a matter of urgency, to promote competition and efficiency.
“Work is underway to improve the efficiency and capacity of the ports of Durban, East London, Ngqura and Cape Town,” said the President. – SAnews.gov.za
