The British Government has announced that South Africa will join 47 countries moved off the red list.
In a statement released by UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, it said that the change will officially take effect from Monday 11 October.
Travellers arriving from non-red list countries who have received any of four vaccines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen – in the UK, US, EU, and 18 other countries now have their inoculation status recognised and can avoid isolation as long as they test negative within two days of their arrival.
Everyone else arriving from non-red list countries must still isolate for at least five days but can use the ‘test to release system’ to be freed.
FEDHASA is elated for our industry. Supporting 1.5 million people, our tourism and hospitality sector will enjoy a significant boost with our largest source market being open to travel which in turn means a boost for job security and livelihoods. Prior to COVID, some 440,000 British travellers visited South Africa so the news that they have once again been given the green light to travel to South Africa without the onerous requirement of having to quarantine in a government-designated hotel on their return bodes exceptionally well for us.
South Africa has the perfect tourism and hospitality ingredients to position itself as one of the world’s top international travel destinations. Focussing on buoying tourism, we could triple the number of visitors who visit our spectacular shores, thereby creating millions of more jobs in our sector. Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has assured our tourism sector that she is very willing to join hands with us and market South Africa like it has never been marketed before. United as one Team Tourism, we can achieve significant job creation in our in tourism and hospitality industry and become the silver bullet South Africa needs to make a significant dent in the country’s unemployment crisis.
For more information on the updated travel regulations, please click here.
