To assist members in their individual negotiations with credit providers, SATSA has written an open letter to request either the granting of, or extension of payment holidays.
To download the letter, please click here.
To assist members in their individual negotiations with credit providers, SATSA has written an open letter to request either the granting of, or extension of payment holidays.
To download the letter, please click here.
The Tourism Business Council of South Africa has received a request from the National Department of Tourism for patience as the National Coronavirus Command Council reviews the regulations that have been drafted for tourism.
It is important to note in the request that the delay is not whether the categories announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa will open – the commitment was made in the President’s speech. Rather, there are several legal matters that have arisen that require the attention of the NCCC and therein lies the delay.
We thank all tourism stakeholders for their patience and cooperation as we await further clarity.
Day Trips From Cape Town ~ Cape Town is beautiful. Let’s face it. The iconic Table Mountain is in the middle of the city, swoon-worthy beaches beg bikini season to stay all-year long, wineries are on your doorstep, everywhere you go something scenic await, streets are buzzing with art and culture and there are foodie […]
The post 5 Day Trips From Cape Town appeared first on South Africa Travel Blog.
Business for SA (B4SA) has advised that a number of employer applicants have detected serious security breaches in the system following the opening of June submissions for UIF TERS.
According to a statement released on B4SA’s website, employer applicants have reported that some data is accessible by other applicants.
B4SA has asked the UIF Commissioner to take down the site while they repair this error. It also advises employers not to make further applications at this stage.
Currently, the application’s portal is still accessible, however, we urge our members to be mindful of this.
SATSA endeavours to keep you informed as more information becomes available
As parts of the world ready themselves for their reopening, we are all eagerly awaiting news of the reopening of South Africa for leisure and international travel.
Tourism Private Sector is lobbying hard for this to be as close as possible to September 2020, prioritising robust health and safety protocols and flexible booking policies to instil trust.
SATSA and our members are intimately involved in this lobbying work and I am happy to share with you some of the below elements which play into our Runway to Recovery.
Have you joined the #SouthAfricaIsTravelReady movement?
Many of you will be aware of and are supporting the #SouthAfricaisTravelReady campaign. We appreciate all your efforts in sharing and amplifying the message – it is one that gains great intensity if we work together and simultaneously to spread.
If you would like to get involved in our campaign, here are some easy ways of doing this:
Get ‘Ahead of the Curve’
The South Africa is Travel Ready website now has a Trade Toolkit with resources that you can use to promote the destination. This includes videos, social media posts and a weekly round-up of news you can use to send to your customers and guests.
Click here to view this week’s ‘Ahead of the Curve’ newsletter.
Sign-up for the weekly round-up of news, by clicking here or visiting www.traveltosouthafrica.org and subscribing in the footer.
Captured on Camera
Check out our SA is Travel Ready YouTube Channel where we have a range of video clips by tourism stakeholders sharing their insights about the industry and tourism business in a time of COVID and beyond.
These can be shared on any of your marketing platforms. Simply visit our YouTube channel and view and share these.
Our thanks to Denise Slabbert and Ryan James from Darling Lama for the video footage.
SATSA Discourse
Don’t forget to be part of the conversation on our SATSA Discourse. You can spark a discussion or join one on the go including weighing in on this incredible article written by the Brenthurst Foundation’s Greg Mills and Ray Hartley in the Daily Maverick this week, which not only explains why Tourism is so valuable for South Africa’s economy, but also how it can and should be reopened (safely) as soon as possible.
The issue of Business Interruption Insurance and whether businesses in tourism and hospitality have a viable claim based on their policies has been under the spotlight. SATSA ran a recent survey to get an understanding of your pain points and developed a comprehensive FAQ which you can find here.
The crux of the issue is around the policy wording of Business Interruption extensions. To provide further clarity, we hosted a webinar on 18 June with a few legal and insurance minds in the room to discuss the issue and answer your questions. The panellists included:
Listen to the full webinar recording from 18 June here and view the webinar FAQs here.
The information provided in the webinar and FAQs is not legal advice but is a general overview to help you navigate your way through the complex issues of Business Interruption insurance and to make more informed decisions about your specific case. The Asisa Foundation has further provided financial advice which you can view here.
This information has been supplemented with the Financial Services Conduct Authority’s (FSCA), recent communication outlining its view on Business Interruption insurance claims. The FSCA Communication 34 of 2020 (INS), issued on 19 June, can be read in full here.
It is important to note that each policy wording is different and open to interpretation. Even a standard Business Interruption policy – which covers material damage to property – is not standard. Businesses assess profits, assets, and risks differently and insurers likewise interpret each policy wording differently. This is where an insurance broker can assist in explaining complex wording and cover.
If you have questions that are not answered in the webinar or FAQs, please email your question to communications@satsa.co.za.
For advice on your specific insurance claim and legal recourse, you can contact Johannes Loubser (Tel: +27 21 872 3014 – Ext. 301; johannes@oostco.co.za) or Louis Nel (Tel: +27 83 679 4556; louis@louisthelawyer.co.za). Advocate Nel has also generously extended a discount offer to SATSA members for legal services – details of which can be found here.
Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) is now open for applications for June, the final month of the scheme.
It appears that the June applications follow the same procedures and have the same requirements as the May applications, including proof of payment to employees and confirmation of banking details.
It is recommended that employers ensure that they are using the updated spreadsheet, available for download on the TERS portal, if intending to submit new CSV files for June.
The relevant website is https://uifecc.labour.gov.za/covid19/
The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), says more than R68bn in tourism spend has been lost since South Africa’s national lockdown began at the end of March.
According to Stats SA’s Tourism Satellite Account, in 2018, total tourism spend in South Africa was R273.2bn. Domestic tourism accounted for 56% of total spend and 44% was international inbound travel. This translates roughly to R22.7bn per month and R748m per day in tourism expenditure that has been lost. Tourism in South Africa supports 1.5m jobs and contributes 8.6% to the GDP.
Over 250 000 employees within the tourism value chain applied for the UIF TERS program in April and May and this is expected to double when the June application opens. Roughly 49 000 SMMEs are already negatively affected and many will close shop. These SMMEs provide unique and authentic experiences sought after by travellers. The TBCSA has presented a comprehensive case for tourism to the Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane as well President Ramaphosa to demonstrate the number of jobs that will be permanently lost if tourism doesn’t reopen soon.
The TBCSA also presented a tourism recovery plan which firmly suggests the opening of international inbound travel by at least September 2020 in order to take advantage of the inbound summer high season which runs from September to March and represents 60% of South Africa’s international tourism annual revenue. The plan was presented to the portfolio committee on tourism earlier this month. The presentation was backed by comprehensive health protocols developed by the industry to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
The announcement made by the President under lockdown Level 3 which made it possible for domestic business, essential, and permitted travel to restart is a step in the right direction. The further easing of lockdown restrictions (advanced Level 3), were the President announced the reopening of accommodation not just for business travel, but also for leisure travel as well as casinos and restaurants, will help in reigniting the sector. In order to sustain the opening of accommodation for leisure however, interprovincial travel must also open to support accommodation businesses. Without interprovincial travel, accommodation establishments will remain closed and jobs will be permanently lost. Provinces like Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and others receive more domestic leisure travelers from Gauteng than their own provinces.
StatSA’s domestic tourism survey indicates that 60% of all domestic overnight trips are across provincial borders, and this rises to 70% for trips from Gauteng. This means a majority of accommodation businesses in surrounding provinces rely entirely on Gauteng outbound domestic travel for their markets.
“If inter-provincial leisure travel is not allowed to take place, it will render the President stating that accommodation operations may trade to support economic activity in order to save businesses and jobs, futile. Without 90% of the market, of which approximately 60% travels across provincial borders, there will be no demand and businesses will not be able to trade, even at break-even levels.” said Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of TBCSA.
With respect to sit-down restaurants, a majority of these restaurants are licensed to sell alcohol, and many people enjoy a cocktail or a beer before a meal – pairing a meal with a good quality South African wine is synonymous with the experience of being out at a restaurant.
Typically, these dining experiences happen in the evening and on weekends, which is when such restaurants make most of their turnover; some restaurants only open in the evenings and some only from Thursday to Sunday to enjoy the maximum revenue opportunity that evening and weekend trade offers.
“Currently the regulations state that alcohol can only be sold Monday to Thursday from 09h00 to 17h00, for off consumption. These regulations will need to be amended to enable on-consumption sale of liquor in restaurants in order for them to open and survive as alcohol sales are a key component of many restaurateurs’ revenue, often totalling 35% to 50% of revenue,” said Tshivhengwa.
SATSA Members are invited to join ASATA Live for a webinar where the Association of Southern Africa Travel Agents’ (ASATA’s) legal counsel, Elizabeth de Stadler, will discuss the following points in relation to refunds and cancellations:
Do travellers have the right to a refund during COVID-19?
Date: June 25
Time: 10:00 AM
Should you have any pressing questions you would like addressed during the webinar, please feel free to email Natalia Rosa at natalia@bigambitions.co.za.
Click here to register for the webinar.
We are receiving a number of queries regarding the two most important issues in most of our lives – UIF TERS and the opening of the tourism industry. Unfortunately there is no clarity on either front.
We can confirm, as per emails and social media post made yesterday, that TERS will not continue after June. This is however what was stated by UIF right from the start. The TBCSA is still in discussion with the Commissioner to look at an alternative relief programme for employees and we are waiting for feedback on this.
We are also trying to establish whether there will be a statement from Minister of Tourism or an update on the current regulations, following the announcements by the President last week. Clarity is urgently required on the exact types of domestic tourism and date that they may resume.
As soon as we have anything concrete to communicate we will certainly do so.