With the termination of the state of disaster, certain travel restrictions and regulations have fallen away, such as the PCR testing requirement for children under 12 years old. Other regulations remain to facilitate a smooth transition.
The interim regulations require only children over 12 years of age to provide a negative PCR test. Since the regulation served as a barrier for traveling families, the news was well received in the travel and tourism industry.
Otto de Vries, CEO of the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA), commented on the news: ‘ASATA is delighted with last night’s announcement that families with children between the ages of five and 12 years no longer need to provide a negative PCR test when returning to South Africa.’
Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) echoed de Vries, stating the new regulation would make travelling to South Africa more convenient for families visiting the country, which will help the industry recover.
However, Fedhasa continues to call on the government to remove further restrictions hampering the recovery of the tourism industry, including the limit on public gatherings: ‘For any medium to long-term planning to take place and events business to be secured, we need certainty. Waiting another three months will mean that we will be losing many event opportunities during this time. Certainty is the one ingredient that is essential for our industry to survive and thrive,
‘We urge Government to lift the restrictions on event gathering sizes sooner than later and provide the certainty our industry requires to be able to be the job creator we could otherwise be.’
Picture: Pexels
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