WESTERN CAPE NEWS - Earlier today, Cape Town welcomed the first Lufthansa flight from Germany since the reopening of international travel.
Germany is one of our key source markets for international travel and is one of our only major source markets who are currently allowed into the country under the travel restrictions.
We welcome all of the travelers on board this flight and wish them a safe stay in our province. The resumption of international travel is important for the Western Cape's recovery, as the tourism and hospitality contribute significantly to job creation in the province.
The hard lockdown, and the travel restrictions in place over the past six months, have had a devastating impact on the sector, with thousands of people losing their jobs.
It is for this reason, that Minister of Economic Opportunities and Finance, David Maynier has written to the national government regarding the risk based approach to travel, which allows business travelers from high risk countries to enter the country, but not leisure travelers.
With many of our key tourism source markets currently on the "no-fly" list, the Western Cape's tourism industry will continue to be negatively impacted.
Minister Maynier's full, detailed submission which proposes doing away with categorising countries according to risk, and implementing a number of safety protocols including the requirement for a PCR test not older than 72 hours old, travelers downloading the Covid-19 app, and the establishment of dedicated testing facilities inside airports should travelers display symptoms, is available to read here.
The Western Cape Government has been working hard for several years to grow our tourism offering and to create an enabling environment for the sector to create jobs.
Air Access, an initiative of the Western Cape Government, the City of Cape Town, Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism and ACSA, has been hard at work for several years, growing the number of direct international flights into Cape Town. The Lufthansa flight today was made possible through the Air Access project in 2016.
This is just one of the significant strides made in growing the route network across the globe, and we must do everything we can to protect the gains we have made in this regard- and ensure that people are able to travel safely- whether it is for business or for leisure travel.
Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde
As of 13:00 on 8 October, the Western Cape has 2 242 active COVID-19 infections with a total of 111 321 confirmed cases and 104 839 recoveries.
The Western Cape has recorded an additional 11 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 4240. We send our condolences to their families and friends at this time.
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