Late last year 2021, a new variant was discovered first in Botswana and South Africa, spreading within the several neighbouring countries of Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, and Eswatini, resulting in the temporary ban of travel to and from major tourist source markets in the West. International countries like the UK, US, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia and others exercised the right to halt traffic to and from the southern African region part of the continent. This resulted in an outpouring of disbelief among the 10 southern African countries as the survival of travel and tourism industry businesses and employment of thousands were threatened. Significant Upswing: Sue Garrett, General Manager, Supply Pricing and Marketing, from Flight Centre Travel Group that specialise in outbound travel from South Africa, was elated with the lifting of the travel ban to South Africa: “This is extremely important as the travel and tourism industry employs many individuals and it is their livelihood that depends on the opening of borders. International Travel is also critical to the survival of travel agents.” She said that most airline carriers were now back flying to and from South Africa. However, many airlines are still operating on reduced scheduling which causes seat availability tricky and increased pricing. In addition, there was need to get airline seat capacity back to pre-Covid levels and inbound travel was also suffering due to capacity constraints. There has been quite an extensive damage caused to the South African travel and tourism sector, and in terms of…
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