The South African National Parks (SANParks) is bracing itself for mass cancellations on booking made by residents from various countries following the recent announcement made by several governments to impose travel restrictions in and out of South Africa.
According to SANParks, Managing Executive, Hapiloe Sello these unfortunate developments call for a proactive approach to minimise adverse impacts on clients.
“We have decided that booked clients from the countries that have introduced travel bans to South Africa will not be charged fees or penalties for amendments and postponements for a 12 month period from the date of November 26 until such time as the travel bans are lifted,” Sello indicated.
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Sello explained in a statement on the SANParks website that affected clients are also welcome to contact their reservation offices to postpone their reservations to later dates.
” We encourage guests to opt for SANParks to retain their deposit payments until they are certain about their travel plans and to only consider cancellations and refunds as a last resort,” Sello said.
However, she went on to say that cancellations due to other reasons outside of travel bans will continue to be subjected to the standard cancellation terms and conditions.
“We want to assure our visitors, particularly local travellers that our national parks remain open and quite likely amongst the safest destinations to travel to,” Sello reiterated.
In the meantime, the Republic of Mauritius will also suspend all flights from the listed countries with effect from Monday, November 29 till Friday, December 31.
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