Cape Town has become the first city in South Africa to receive the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) ‘Safe Travels’ stamp – a potential sign that the country may be gearing up to start reopening its borders.
South Africa announced that its domestic tourism sector was open and ready on August 18. This coincided with the country reducing its alert level to two, allowing the resumption of economic activity across most industries within South Africa.
Now, cities – and the tourism businesses within them – are applying for marks that demonstrate their safety and help give consumers confidence during the ongoing pandemic.
The WTTC’s stamp is, according to its website, “a specially designed stamp that will allow travellers to recognise governments and companies around the world which have adopted health and hygiene global standardised protocols.”
“This is a great achievement as it highlights that as a destination, we are committed to be aligned with the Safe Travel protocols as set out by WTTC,” said Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, of the news. “It emphasises that we are serious about being a safe destination for travelers and that we are ready to cautiously but warmly welcome visitors back again.”
But how good a sign is this for international tourists? While domestic tourism seems to be picking up, a large question mark still remains over when the South African government will reopen borders. Some reports have said it could happen as soon as September of this year, while others worry it may not happen until 2021. A specific date has yet to be announced.
“South Africa is following a risk adjusted framework which will also guide when it is safe enough to open our borders to international tourists,” Sisa Ntshona, the CEO of South Africa’s Tourism Board, told Telegraph Travel. “The risk adjusted framework has earmarked international travel for Level 1 and we are currently on Level 2. We will be guided by the trajectory of the pandemic as well as our government as to when we move to Level 1 and when it will be safe enough for our borders to open up.”