President Cyril Ramaphosa said that travel carries great risks of Covid-19, which people can reduce by avoiding unnecessary travel.
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa said in his keynote address on Thursday that South Africans should avoid unnecessary travel this festive season due to the spread of Covid-19.
He said: “Travel carries great risks (of Covid-19), which we can reduce by avoiding unnecessary travel.
“The summer season is traditionally a time for social gatherings, attending festivals and events, and socialising at weddings, religious gatherings and in both public and private spaces. These social gatherings can be ‘super-spreader’ events that carry a huge risk of transmission of the virus,” he said.
Meanwhile, Association of Southern African Travel Agents (ASATA) has since called on all stakeholders in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry to get behind President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call to recommit to the fight against Covid-19 by complying with stringent health and hygiene protocols.
Otto de Vries, CEO ASATA, said the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors have done all the work to implement robust health and hygiene safety protocols to safeguard staff and guests.
“What we need now is their consistent implementation and a heightened commitment by all stakeholders in the tourism and travel value chain to ensuring their customers are complying strictly with these,” he said.
De Vries enhanced interventions in Nelson Mandela Bay are an important wake-up call to the country and the sector as a whole. To ensure the same does not happen across the country, we need to do our part as the sector and enforce the protocols.
“It’s up to us to ensure we don’t go back to where we were before. That means the proper implementation of the comprehensive protocols that have been devised specifically for our sector and managing the compliance of our customers, guests and travellers. It is that simple,” he added.
