South Africa’s tourism enterprise battle to carry on with few vacationers in sight

(CNN) – One of the top rated restaurants in Cape Town may close in 2021 with just one reservation.

“It is pointless for me to wait and wait and wait,” said Mbasa Siyaka, the owner of Mzansi restaurant. “I don’t know when this pandemic will end and when people are likely to be traveling.”

Many South Africans in the tourism industry face the same dilemma as Siyaka. Business owners and employees are losing money month after month as hopes of a recovery rise amid travel restrictions related to the “South African” variant of Covid-19, limited support from the government and major airlines serving routes to and from the US cancel, delay country.

“Right now I’m sitting with a zero, a minus, in my bank account,” said Siyaka. Compare that to a year ago when he had long-term plans to turn Mzansi into a franchise.

Located in the historic town of Langa, Mzansi was founded in 2008 after Siyaka’s late grandmother approached his mother with an idea: a place where tourists can enjoy a traditional home cooked South African meal while listening to African music. When Mbasa’s mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2018, he took over the family business. Today Mzansi ranks 1st and 2nd Tripadvisor for the best restaurant in Cape Town.

Mzansi restaurant, which was once popular with tourists, has only one revival in 2021.

Mbasa Siyaka

Siyaka employs 16 people from the local community, some of whom are untrained and have had difficulty finding other jobs. They all depend on his business to keep food on the table and the lights on.

After South African doctors discovered a more transmissible variant of Covid-19 in October 2020, countries like the US, UK and Germany closed their borders to visitors from the country. Airlines like British Airways, Emirates and Cathay Pacific have canceled all flights and not restarted.

According to the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa, fewer than half of the airlines that operated routes to South Africa prior to the pandemic have resumed operations. This means great uncertainty for an industry and a country that rely on travelers. According to the government, tourism accounts for around 1.5 million jobs and 2.9% of the South African economy.

“Big catastrophe”

Tour guide Anton Joubert had to dive into his pension to make ends meet.

Courtesy of Anton Joubert

“This has been a major disaster for all of us in the tourism industry,” said Patrick Hanratty, managing director and owner of Mmilo Tours, a small online tourism company based in Pretoria that offers safari, city and nature tours.

“I was looking forward to moving back to Cape Town, but now I think I probably have to stay active for another five years.”

Hanratty receives roughly 10% of the requests it received before the pandemic. From January to March 2021, he received a total of 10 inquiries, an average of three per month. This is a huge decrease from its usual 50 requests per month. Due to lower demand, he had to take leave of many of his employees, many of whom were freelance tour guides.

Anton Joubert, who has been a tour guide for Mmilo for 10 years, had to dive into his pension fund to make ends meet. “I had to sell nuts and dried fruits … a man sells coffee on street corners to make a living.”

In mid-2020, companies in the tourism industry received grants from the South African government. Mbasa received ZAR 50,000 (USD 3,445) and some tour guides like Anton received ZAR 4,000 (USD 275) each.

“The money was ready within a month,” said Mbasa. He shared the majority of the grant with his employees. “We bought food parcels in bulk, gave them money for electricity, and that was it. We couldn’t have done anything more.”

The grants they received were part of the first pillar of South Africa’s tourism recovery plan. According to Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South Africa Tourism, the three pillars include protecting the supply side through financial support, stimulating demand and creating a favorable environment.

In the meantime, domestic tourism will be the “bread and butter” of South Africa.

“As an entrepreneur, the choice is yours. You can either hold back and say, ‘I’ll wait for a day when the markets can travel, or I can reorganize and revolve around what’s ahead of me,” said he ntshona.

The CEO suggests that companies recalibrate themselves and strike a balance between serving local and international tourists.

Like many destinations, South Africa is hoping for a recovery in tourism once vaccinations become more widespread. Entrepreneurs were optimistic about the vaccine launch in South Africa, including 31.5 million orders for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and 20 million orders from Pfizer. A rollout that could increase SA herd immunity and prepare them for international visitors.

“We haven’t done enough”

However, recent news may introduce further delays. After US health officials stopped introducing Johnson & Johnson vaccines after six cases of women who developed blood clots, South Africa followed suit and suspended the vaccine as a “precautionary measure”.

According to the airline booking app Hopper, the search for air fares for consumers in South Africa is gradually increasing.

“The searches on April 7th were the highest since December 18, 2020. Searches this week are up 15% compared to the previous week.” said Adit Damodaran, an economist at the travel booking app Hopper.

But the stigma surrounding the so-called South African variant or the Covid-19 outbreak there might not be so easy to resolve. Hopper’s data shows that searches for South Africa have seen relatively fewer searches compared to other international destinations since February.

For companies like that Town house hotelSuch renewed interest comes a little too late.

George Petousis made the emotional decision to close the hotel that his father had founded in Cape Town exactly 50 years ago.

“We haven’t done enough to transform the hotel into something that is competitive and in high demand right now,” said Petousis.

His only regret is that he has to lay off his staff, some of whom have worked for the hotel for over 40 years and do not change over time. “The hotels that survive are hotels that are attractive to the domestic South African traveler.”

Although occupancy is 30 and 40% at his other two hotels, The Vineyard and Oude Werf, Petousis plans to keep borrowing money from the bank to keep the hotels open until he can welcome tourists back to full capacity .

Even so, Patrick Hanratty is still optimistic about the future of travel in South Africa.

“There are people out there who love to travel, it’s what they live for, it’s the excitement of their lives and nothing is going to stop them.”