Tourism during alert level three of South Africa's risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19

South Africa enters alert level three of its risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19 today. This applies to the whole of the country, including areas that have been declared as coronavirus hotspots. During alert level 3, all areas of the economy in South Africa will be allowed to reopen. Excluded are high-risk activities, which will remain prohibited.

According to the country's Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, the following tourism services are allowed to re-open during alert level three:

• Restaurants for delivery or collection of food. Restaurants with liquor licences are allowed to sell alcohol only for takeout and delivery. In this area there's been an outcry that they must be allowed for onsite consumption. We are in discussions with restaurants so that whatever solution is provided in this regard for seat down doesn't perpetuates the inequality and we are confident that in our next submission to NCCC this will be considered
• professional services - e.g. tourist guides, tour operators, travel agents, tourism information officers are allowed to come back to operations
• Professional Services including training of nature guides and other related services that are able to ensure safe distance.
• public and private game farms have been opened for self-drive excursions
• Hiking to be done in compliance with excising guidelines and not in groups
• Accommodation activities are allowed except for leisure and establishments will no longer require a letter from Minister of Tourism to operate. They are required to ensure that they accommodate those in the permitted services and keep records for inspections by the department
• Hunting activities are also allowed

The following economic activities will remain prohibited under level three and these include:

• Conferences, events, entertainment activities (such as Festivals) are still not permitted. It must be noted that some of the conference venues have been used in the fight against the pandemic and as such are allowed to be operational including being used for distribution points of social relief measures
• casinos not permitted
• leisure travel not permitted

The following tourism-related services are allowed:

• domestic commercial flights which have been opened for business travel
• Car Rentals
• those approved to travel are allowed to use long-distance public transport to do so from 01 June 2020 including inter-provincial travel