Covid-19 vaccine ‘only way for tourism sector to recover’
Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says the country’s tourism sector will only fully recover once the enough people are vaccinated against Covid-19 around the world.
Kubayi-Ngubane briefed the media on the department's recovery plan in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.
"Vaccination will be the major determinant on how quickly we recover. Not only vaccination in the country but vaccination globally."
The country’s tourism sector has taken a huge knock over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
Figures presented by the minister estimates that the food and beverages industry in shrunk by close to 41% in 2020.
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To make matters worse, the United States on Thursday placed the country on its red list, which essentially discourages Americans from traveling to the country as a result of Covid-19.
"The association of Covid-19 variant with our country has had a negative impact on the country's brand,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.
"Many of us would've seen what has come out of the US yesterday where they've put us on the red list.
"We are seeing now more and more countries that are putting us on the red list specifically because of the variant. We are doing a lot of work to understand what their reasons are.”
