Limpopo tourism battling to weather the Covid-19 storm
South Africa’s tourism sector has been one of the hardest-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the decision to close the country’s borders and restrict travel between provinces.
Earlier in June, the Tourism Business Council predicted that at least 600 000 direct jobs would be lost in the sector by December, should the country’s borders remained closed.
However, two tourism businesses in Limpopo have shown that survival is possible during the Covid-19 storm.
Situated only an hour-and-a half from Pretoria in the Waterberg mountain range, Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate employs more than 100 people.
Despite the six month ban on inter-provincial travel due to the lockdown, general manager Valerie Gwasira says the business did not retrench any of its staff.
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“I am proud to say that as the general manager of Euphoria, by 1 September all our staff compliment was back. We have not lost any staff member except for the ones that have left for greener pastures. We went to lockdown with 109 and we have come back with a 109. Business demand has been so high. We will be looking to create more temporary jobs for the festive season.”
Seipelo Masemola, who is the owner of Lerato’s Grillhouse which is also situated in the Waterberg region, says her business did not retrench any of its 14 employees.
It did have to cut worker’s salaries by 50% in an attempt to keep the business afloat.
She adds that the government's R50 000 relief fund also benefited the establishment.
“The tourism relief fund helped a lot. They paid out R50 000. That really assisted a long way. Even though salaries of the whole team had to be cut in halves, no one was released. That is a great thing on its own, everyone is still here and we're still here as a team with all the challenges that we faced.”
Gwarise says planning for the business during the hard lockdown has helped them continue operations.
“As the economy started to re-opening, we made sure that we were a step ahead in terms of marketing and planning. Business travel opened and we made sure we were ready and Covid-19 compliant. When domestic traveling reopened we made sure that we were ready to open our doors and welcome everybody.”
For Lerato’s Grillhouse, operations aren’t running as Masemola had hoped.
She says since the regulations have been lifted, the company is operating from a negative balance sheet.
“The profit has dropped by 100%. That’s how bad it is. The recovery is not easy; we have now been running from a negative.”
Masemola says that she hopes a few of the activities that she has helped create will lure more customers.
“There are certain activities that I came up with to make a difference in this establishment which will attract people to the outlet. Will be now hard on ladies night. We will also do Wednesday gatherings. We have opened our doors for the public to come and use our premises.”
