We’re Off to an Optimistic Start in 2022 – Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO TBCSA.

South Africa’s tourism sector is clawing back its losses over the past two years, with the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) reporting that the sector’s December 2021 trading had reached 64% of December 2019 levels. “We’re off to an optimistic start in 2022,” says Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO TBCSA. “Our domestic tourists were the driving force behind our tourism and hospitality businesses over December, but we are equally grateful to those inbound international visitors who were undeterred by Omicron media reports and travel restrictions and chose to travel anyway.” South Africa’s travel and tourism sector seemed to be on the road to recovery towards the end of last year, until the discovery of the Omicron variant set it back substantially, the results of which are expected to be felt until March. Despite this, the TBCSA is encouraged at the pace with which tourism business is improving. “This is a testament not only to the resilience of the industry which has largely borne the brunt of changing travel regulations globally, but indeed travel in general, as pent-up demand from our source markets means travellers are choosing to plan, book and travel within very short lead times,” says Tshivhengwa. South Africa has a small window of opportunity to position itself as a favourable destination as other long-haul competitor destinations remain closed, he says. “Our focus must be on delivering ease of travel for our inbound international visitors and returning South Africans and this includes the removal of the requirement for PCR…

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