Despite a robust vaccination drive, South Africa remains on the travel ‘red list’ for the UK and several European countries. In South Africa, travel and tourism account for 8.6% of the economy’s output and 9.2% of the jobs.
Cape Town, South Africa (27 September 2021) – Cape Town Tourism is on a mission to ramp up the Mother City’s vaccination drive so other countries see it as safe and open for travel.
To incentivise vaccinations, Cape Town Tourism have partnered with Vodacom, City Sightseeing ‘Red bus’, and other organisations to let ‘vaxxed’ individuals explore some of the city’s prettiest places at reduced prices.
Despite a robust vaccination drive, South Africa remains on the travel ‘red list’ for the UK and several European countries. In South Africa, travel and tourism account for 8.6% of the economy’s output and 9.2% of the jobs. As the most visited city in the country, this has hit Cape Town particularly hard. In response to this and as a way of showing the world that the home of Table Mountain is just as safe and beautiful to visit as it has ever been, Cape Town Tourism and the City of Cape Town are leading the charge to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
“We are urgently encouraging as many Capetonians as possible to get vaccinated so that we can save the thousands of jobs and businesses that are at risk. We’re hoping that both Jobs4Jabs and Jabs4Tourism galvanise people into protecting themselves and others against Covid-19. A higher vaccination rate will show the world that Cape Town is capable of hosting visitors from across the globe safely,” said Alderman James Vos, City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management.
“Unfortunately, there are South Africans who have vaccination-hesitancy due to ‘fake news’ and misinformation, making those vaccinated vexed with the unvaxed. Purely from a public health perspective, getting as many people in our industry vaccinated as possible is vital. It is also crucial that, as an industry, we do what we need to in order to get as many of our team members vaccinated because the combination of lockdown restrictions and being on all these red lists is dealing major damage to Cape Town’s economy,” said Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism.
Two of the partners on board include the iconic City Sightseeing aka ‘the Red bus’ and mobile giant, Vodacom.
Carol Hall, Managing Executive for Vodacom Western Cape Region, says: “As a responsible corporate citizen, we would like to add our voice to the many appeals coming from various stakeholders and plead with all South Africans to get vaccinated. The government has gone to great lengths to source vaccines, but reports show that vaccination centres are standing empty, and this is very worrisome as it will further delay efforts to revive the local economy, which has been hit hardest by Covid. Latest research shows that vaccines do save lives, and we plead with Capetonians to take the vaccine, contribute to the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and play a part in the recovery of our economy.”
Cape Town Tourism has also partnered with some of the Mother City’s most-loved celebrities who are adding their voices to the campaign in a series of videos. Local favourites – including the likes of comedians Marc Lottering and Mel Jones, cricket star JP Duminy, radio personalities Tracey Lange and Deon Bing, and musicians Chad Saaiman and Acoustic Element, will share why they chose to be vaccinated and what being protected from the virus means to them.
“The idea behind these videos is to bring hope, inspiration and humour to South Africans in these hard times, but more importantly to place the spotlight on the urgent need to increase vaccination rates to kick-start tourism. By sharing these videos, we will encourage locals to love Cape Town by getting themselves vaccinated,” says Enver Duminy. “These videos will be shared on Love Cape Town’s social media channels over the next month, so look out for them.”
Marc Lottering says, “The pandemic has hit us hard, workwise. All of us getting the jab will help in a big way. I need to get back to work. I owe my brother money.”
Widely recognised as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, there is not very much standing between the Mother City hosting throngs of local and international guests again. It is already slated to be the staging ground for the first mass participation event, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, in the country since South Africa went into lockdown. The closer and faster the city can get to a highly vaccinated populace, the more jobs and revenue it can produce. All it takes is one tiny jab.
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