The Democratic Alliance (DA) has created a public petition for inter-provincial travel to be reopened. They plan to take this petition to Parliament and demand for it to be reinstated.
“In the last few weeks the various sectors within the tourism, hospitality and restaurant industries have been peacefully demonstrating against government’s lockdown regulations which is economically crippling these sectors,” says the DA in a statement. “Many previously flourishing businesses have been decimated and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost.”
According to the DA, roughly 1.2-million South Africans depend on the tourism industry for jobs. Every day that this sector is forbidden from doing business, the sector loses approximately R748-million.
Their new petition calls on government to allow South Africans to travel to any province that they may wish and be permitted to stay at any holiday resort, lodge or any other type of accommodation whilst also being permitted to enjoy all activities on offer at any of the tourism and hospitality facilities.
The DA suggests that social distancing rules, the wearing of masks and health protocols be enforced. They also demand the hunting industry be opened as a whole in order to save the livelihoods dependent on that sector too.
They encourage South Africans who support this to sign and distribute their petition as widely as possible.
The petition can be accessed here: http://www.opentourismnow.co.za
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