DURBAN - DUE to the Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions on movement that have been in place for more than a year, tourism businesses may take as long as 10 years to recover.
This was the grim admission made by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa). The association said their members had seen plummeting revenue since the lockdown was introduced 18 months ago.
“The last festive season was a hard knock as there was a 20% decrease in the expected figures. Members had been reporting quite pleasant figures in April this year. Just when they were working on that, the level 4 (lockdown) hit when the travel ban was reintroduced where our members reported between 0-5% occupancy,” said Brett Tungay of Fedhasa in KwaZulu-Natal.
Tungay said there had also been a negative impact due to the riots that took place two weeks ago.
“During that time, some of our members had to close down. It will be hard to bounce back now that we are not only faced with financial challenges but also with our image as a province being tainted during the unrest,” he said.
Northern KZN businessman and resort owner, Musa Myeni, said it had been a downward spiral since the announcement of the lockdown.
“In 2020 we had bookings up until December and when the lockdown was announced, we had to pay back deposits and we lost about R12 million,” he said.
Myeni said it would be difficult to bounce back given the level 4 lockdown and the recent unrest.
“During the unrest we’ve had to tighten security measures when already money was not coming in. During that time we saw people gathering for political reasons where we saw no social distancing taking place, and the government did nothing about it. This shows you that our government is not serious about the regulations they put in place because it only applies in certain areas,” he said.
“It has been really sad to let some people go. As if that was not enough, we have to deal with claims from insurance companies. We are told of all sorts of clauses that were never mentioned and if you do get the cover, it is not even half of what the costs amount to,” he said.
Durban businessman Max Mqadi of Max’s Lifestyle called on the government to speed up the vaccination roll-out.
“The only way out of this and back to normal is if the government can get on with vaccinations. The sad reality is that when businesses finally open up, they will be opening up with credit,” he said.
On a positive note for the industry, hotel management software provider RoomRaccoon said past trends revealed hope for the industry’s future. “RoomRaccoon statistics during and following the second wave of Covid-19 infections in the country showed that bookings for accommodation businesses nearly doubled in December, February, March, April and May 2021, with up to 60% of rooms booked in these months, well above the benchmark of 30%,” they stated.
THE MERCURY