There is cautious optimism throughout the province about the re-opening of the domestic tourism industry and kickstarting the summer holiday season.
What will be critical in the weeks and months ahead, however, is for the industry as a whole to throw its full weight behind supporting and abiding by the stringent health and safety measures which remain in place.
This must be a collective non-negotiable across all tourism activities.
Ensuring the health and safety of our guests has always been a critical component of our business. COVID-19 has shown us that we cannot become complacent or relax this commitment, even for a second.
Lives, livelihoods and the future of our industry depend on our understanding that this pandemic – and the ways in which we have had to adapt to it – is a marathon.
Masks and face shields will be with us for the foreseeable future. Heightened sanitisation and social distancing innovations must become as routine as turning on the lights and throwing open the doors.
The good news, even as our province continues to fight a steady wave of infections, is that the peak may be behind us, and that the spread of the virus is slowing.
The safety and health measures put in place by government are both sensible, and necessary. It is now up to all of us to ensure that we comply, and that we make our province’s excellent hospitality and tourism venues and activities as safe as is possible.
Only in doing this can we ensure that the tentative re-opening of our sector blossoms into a robust, industry- and job-saving recovery.
Our collective task over the next few months will be to show, through responsible action, that the decision to re-open the industry for domestic tourism was the right one.
We also need to flag our readiness, over the coming months, for the all-important return of our valued international guests.
The fast-approaching summer season will undoubtedly be unlike any other we have experienced. Wrapped within the challenges we continue to face, lie extraordinary opportunity, however. Opportunity to reignite our domestic market, to showcase the uncrowded appeal of our province and reposition the Eastern Cape as a top-tier travel destination.
