There is another faint glimmer of hope around the black cloud of the tour operator licence issuing delays – which organisations such as SATSA and the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) have been lobbying since 2017 to address – following the announcement of measures to mitigate this by the Department of Transport.
Earlier this month, Cabinet received a progress report on addressing the backlog which reiterated that a commitment from the Department of Tourism would partner with relevant institutions and structures including the Department of Transport Interim National Public Transport Regulator Committee to ensure improvement and quicker turnaround times in the processing of tour operator licences.
The backlog on issuing tour operator licences by the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) has long been highlighted as one of the key pre-COVID legacy barriers to tourism growth and recovery – in addition to visas and crime.
Some progress made
There has been some…