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President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday night that the country will move to adjusted level 3 from July 25, 2021.
As a result, he said, “inter-provincial travel for leisure may resume.”
This means that travellers can now travel to and from Gauteng after the government banned leisure travel to the province in June following the surge of Covid-19 cases.
The curfew will start at 10pm until 4am, he announced.
“The latest figures suggest that we have largely passed the peak of the third wave of infections, although there are areas in the country where we still need to be concerned because the rates of infection have not yet shown signs of decline.
“The measures that we put in place for the past 28 days, alongside the continued adherence of South Africans to basic health precautions, have been effective in reducing the rate of infection.
“It remains mandatory for every person to wear a face mask that always covers their nose and mouth at all times when in public spaces,” Ramaphosa said in his keynote speech.
Another milestone for the industry is the resumption of the sale of alcohol, which has impacted the wine tourism businesses.
He said, “Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 8pm.”
The CEO of Visit Stellenbosch, Jeanneret Momberg, told IOL Travel the South African tourism industry was heavily impacted by Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictions imposed.
“Alcohol sales bans have had a negative impact on the combined value chain of wine and hospitality, along with stalling the economic recovery process that was beginning to recover,” she said.
