StatsSA reports on accommodation and food and beverage performance shows signs of recovery in South Africa.
However, Fedhasa, the national trade association for the hospitality industry, says now is the time to continue the momentum, with vaccination the key to ensure numbers are sustained.
Rosemary Anderson, the national chairperson of Fedhasa, said they were grateful to South Africans for supporting the tourism and hospitality sector over the past year.
“Eating out and enjoying domestic holidays has helped the sector achieve a 44.6% increase in food and beverage income and an 88.3% increase in accommodation income in August 2021, compared with August last year.
“We are seeing accommodation types like caravan parks and camping sites, and guest houses and guest farms achieving the largest year-on-year increases in income,” she said.
Income from accommodation increased by 237% in the three months ended August 2021 compared with the three months ended August 2020. The main contributors to this increase were accommodation establishments classed as “other” (232% and contributing 113.4 percentage points); and hotels (213.5% and contributing 99.5 percentage points).
“As we go into our peak summer holiday season, we call on all South Africans to help us keep our doors open by getting vaccinated and complying with our health and hygiene protocols to reduce pressure on our healthcare system.
“This will help our industry directly as the government won’t have to put in place restrictions that will hamper our operations and prevent us from staying open, earning a livelihood and retaining jobs at the time of year when we are busiest,” Anderson said.
“Behind the closed doors and ‘for sale’ signs are thousands of livelihoods that have already been lost and hang in the balance every day our industry is forced to bear the brunt of lockdown regulations.
“The hospitality sector also supports a deep supply chain that is similarly affected. We simply cannot afford to lose another peak season to the ravages of Covid lockdowns, especially when we are seeing such an encouraging start to our summer season.”