Hundreds of tour operators are unable to work legally due to the failure of the licensing authority, the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR), to function, the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) said in a briefing last week.
South Africa’s tourism sector, which generates 10% of GDP, was hard hit by Covid-19. The sector is operating at 30% to 40% capacity in comparison with 2019, the country’s Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) said in March. The tourism sector lost 470,000 jobs in the pandemic with only 37% of employees receiving 100% of their salaries this February, the PMG said.
Systemic failure of the NPTR’s licence system began over five years ago, and for most of the last two and a half years, the NPTR has operated without a board. That means no operating licences have been processed since December 2019, SATSA says. “Government is yet to resolve this
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