South Africa: South African airline representatives board confirms our skies must open for tourism to grow

At this week’s Tourism Portfolio Committee meeting, the Board of Representatives of Airlines of South Africa (BARSA) confirmed that the government’s handling of Covid-19 and the blockade have put South Africa at serious risk as a hub. African plane. How international tourism is handled by the Ramaphosa administration has sparked a discussion among the international tourism industry that countries like Namibia, Kenya and Ethiopia should be seen as Africa’s travel hubs, rather than South Africa.

BARSA explained that the South African blockade is destroying and continues to destroy tourism. This is making South Africa increasingly problematic for the growth of tourism and the tourism industry around the world.

The prevention of not opening the skies in South Africa is also a major obstacle to the growth and development of tourism. Keeping our skies closed and the continued bailout of South African Airways (SAA) contributes to the lag of our economy and makes travel to and from South Africa more expensive than other parts of the world. The government must implement the Yamoussoukro decision which liberalizes air transport in Africa. Unless this happens, Africa, which is home to 12% of the world’s population, will continue to represent less than 1% of the global air service market.

As early as 2010, the World Bank in its study on the implementation of the Yamoussoukro decision confirmed that South Africa’s refusal to become a signatory to this decision and their obsession with restricting our air services markets to protect the share held by the ASA is a major obstacle to growth and development. This development includes development, growth and job creation. The World Bank has confirmed that countries that have abandoned national airlines are able to redirect state resources towards investments that have a more positive impact on economic development which includes tourism.

Lower transport costs achieved through increased competition reduce a significant trade barrier for African countries, while also improving the prospects for increased tourism. This is actually confirmed by the fact that 20 per cent of tourism-related jobs in Africa are supported by visitors arriving by plane, compared to only four per cent in North America, for example. Passenger air traffic has increased as countries open their skies. This in turn has had positive growth for the jobs and economies of those countries.

South Africa must implement the recommendations of the Yamoussoukro decision which includes, among others:

Full liberalization of intra-African air transport services in terms of access, capacity, frequency and fares

Free exercise of first, second, third, fourth and fifth freedoms for air passenger and freight services by eligible airlines (these rights, granted by most international air service agreements, allow, inter alia, non-domestic carriers to land in one take on traffic from or destined for a third state.

Liberalized tariffs and fair competition.

If these easy-to-do things were done by the government, we would almost instantly see, even within the covid environment, an increase in trade, both regional and intercontinental. Competitive air carriers with more frequent flights and lower fares can also open the door to trade.

It is time for the government to prioritize opening up air travel so that our tourism is turbo-boosted, significantly growing our economy and our jobs.