What self-regulating guidelines has the tourism industry developed to operate under Alert Level 3 and 2?
The South African tourism industry has developed comprehensive protocols for the operation of all types of tourism businesses and facilities in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The protocols align with the latest Disaster Management and Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL) Regulations, and the World Health Organisation (WHO), National Institute for Communicable Disease (NICD), and Department of Health (DoH) guidelines and advice, as well as the Health & Safety Act. The protocols will be updated as required on an on-going basis in line with the risk-adjusted economic activity allowed and the pandemic status.
This version of the protocols is envisaged to operate under risk levels 3 and 2. It will, however, be updated as and when the situation changes.
These protocols will be revised to facilitate increased capacity and recovery of the tourism industry and should only remain in force for as long as the declaration of a national disaster published in Government Gazette 43096 on 15 March 2020 remains in force.
The protocols cover customer information and staff training, PPE (personal protective equipment), physical distancing, sanitisation and hygiene practices for staff and customers, and surface sanitising among others.
We are confident that these extensive protocols enable the travel, tourism and related industries to operate safely as COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Our businesses will be among the safest places to be. The protocols address all the acknowledged risk areas related to travel and tourism.
While all of these protocols may be applied to aviation and cruise operations, these sub-sectors will have additional sector-specific protocols.
Download protocols here.
