The Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has promulgated new Lockdown Level 2 Regulations, as announced by President, Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, 15 July 2020.

Please click here to view the Regulations.

The following amendments are important to note:

Accommodation:

Accommodation establishments are allowed to open for leisure travel provided health protocols are observed, including guests observing 1,5m social distancing, wearing of masks and the usage of hand sanitisers. Although the regulations stipulate a restriction of 50% floor space capacity, the TBCSA has pointed out that this is a drafting error.

“There has been a drafting error in the reference to 50% floor space for accommodation providers and tour operators which is being corrected,” says Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO TBCSA. SATSA will provide updates as these arise.

Public Transport

Domestic air travel is allowed for leisure purposes.

International air travel for leisure purposes is still prohibited, as borders remain closed for now. Travel for repatriation purposes is allowed as well as daily commuters from neighbouring countries who attend or teach at a school in South Africa. The Cabinet member responsible for Home Affairs, in consultation with the Cabinet members responsible for Health and Transport, may allow certain categories of international travel to resume once it is deemed safe to do so, subject to directions.

Water-based activities

Swimming pools are allowed to open subject to a limitation of 50 people. Other water-based activities such as scuba diving, shark cage diving, kayaking, river rafting are also open subject to conditions.

Beaches and public parks are open, but directions will be issued.

Conferences & Events

Conferences and meetings are allowed with a limit of 50 people per conference (excluding those who participate through electronic platforms) and provided the meeting or conference is restricted to business purposes.

Concerts and entertainment events are allowed subject to a limitation of 50 people and subject to directions issued by the relevant Cabinet member.

Curfew

Every person is confined to his or her place of residence from 22h00 until 04h00 daily, except where a person has been granted a permit, which corresponds with Form 2 of Annexure A, to perform a service other than a service related to an activity.

Sale, dispensing or transportation of liquor

The sale of liquor is permitted by licensed premises for off-consumption, from 09h00 to 17h00, Mondays to Thursdays, excluding Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; and by licensed premises for on-site consumption, subject to strict adherence to the curfew regulation.

In an effort to continuously improve operational processes and passenger time optimisation, King Shaka International Airport have updated the current Passenger journey through the airport.

These adjustments will take effect from Sunday, the 16 August 2020.

King Shaka International Airport General Manager, Terence Delomoney says, “Our Operations team conducted a study on the current operating processes that were implemented under lockdown level 3 operations. These processes enable us to comply with the new regulations and are endorsed by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).

This review has identified areas for improvement throughout the passenger journey; and is part of an ongoing assessment that enables continuous improvement”.

Passengers are still encouraged to arrive at the airport two hours before departure time. On arrival Passengers will be guided by signage and assisted where necessary by our staff.

The changes will affect the following areas of the terminal building:

Arriving at the airport

• The shaded parking and long-term parking remain closed under level 3 of the
  lockdown.
• All parking is currently allocated at the Multi-Story Parkade (MSP) Level 0 until further notice. Airport entrances and access control
• Main terminal building entrance which is situated next to Woolworths will only be used as an exit for arriving passengers
• An alternate entrance, between Mugg and Bean and Exclusive Books will be used for processing departing passengers
• A queueing maze will be installed to facilitate efficient passenger flow

As the COVID-19 infection rate declines and Government announces a further reopening of the economy, the Tourism sector confirms it is ready to reopen safely and says there’s demand for leisure travel.

The announcement this week that South Africa would be instituting Level 2 on 18 August 2020 is welcome news for many industries which have been crippled by the lockdown regulations limiting their operations.

This is no more evident than in the Tourism sector, which was amongst the first and hardest hit of all industries and will likely be the last to be reopened fully.

The announcement that inter-provincial leisure travel will now be allowed will provide a much-needed lifeline for tourism businesses which have been amongst the hardest hit by the impact of COVID-19 since even before the lockdown in South Africa. Even with the small reopening of intra-provincial domestic leisure travel, we have already seen that there is pent-up demand for tourism and travel.

Last week, online accommodation booking system provider, NightsBridge, confirmed it had recorded some 9,389 bookings across 2,646 properties for the past long weekend, with the Western Cape receiving most of the benefit.

NightsBridge Managing Director Theresa Emerick, says that for establishments in many other provinces, especially Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo, inter-provincial leisure travel would need to be opened up to provide a lifeline for accommodation providers who are reliant on the domestic market from Gauteng.

“Although we only received 38% of last year’s travel volume back over the comparable weekend, there was certainly a sharp spike in bookings since the official announcement that intra-provincial leisure travel was allowed. The next steps to the reopening of the sector is inter-provincial leisure travel, which many accommodation providers in provinces surrounding Gauteng desperately need for their survival,” says Emerick.

Assessing forward bookings for South Africa’s high season, NightsBridge reports about a third of bookings (25,630) have been made for December 2020 to February 2021 versus the same point last year which saw 77,175 bookings for December 2019 to February 2020.

Travel Safe – Eat Safe

Driving demand is the commitment by tourism providers across the value chain to ensure the safety and wellbeing of guests and staff. To this end, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) has launched its Travel Safe – Eat Safe Certification Programme incorporating a robust set of tourism protocols that have received the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) stamp of approval.

The stamp will allow customers to recognise businesses in South Africa which have already adopted world-class health and hygiene protocols for safe travel, indicating our readiness as a travel destination for both domestic and international guests.

South African National Parks (SANParks) welcomes the lifting of restrictions on inter-provincial travel and reiterates that it has introduced stringent hygiene protocols in an effort to curb the risk of the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Remarking after the President’s announcement made on Saturday, 15 August 2020, Chief Executive Officer, Fundisile Mketeni said in line with the government protocols and regulations and in the interests of the health and safety of visitors and staff; SANParks will introduce new visitor management procedures to manage visitor volumes in the parks.

According to Mketeni, SANParks overnight accommodation opened to intra-provincial guests on August 14, 2020, in most of its parks and therefore the facilities are already well equipped to welcome inter-provincial guests. He, however, cautioned that new government regulations, as well as SANParks’ protocols, are likely to result in restrictions to overnight accommodation occupancies and therefore the public is encouraged to pre-book; walk-in bookings at parks will not be permitted.

“While we understand the frustration that this will cause to those who are impatient to spend time in nature, it is important for all to appreciate the intent behind this decision.”

Further information for overnight accommodation protocols will be available on www.sanparks.org as regulations are clarified.

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During the pandemic, many of South Africa’s business owners have faced various difficulties and have had to find ways to sustain their businesses.

In this recording, Dr Adrian Saville CE of Cannon Asset Managers unpacks ways of how to navigate, negotiate and reinvent your business for the second half of 2020.

In addition, the webinar touches on how Bidvest Bank can assist you during these times.

Click here to view the recording of the webinar.

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