JEDDAH: The omicron variant of the coronavirus came at a very high cost to South African tourism, as top scientists in the country identified the strain which had its origin somewhere else in the world, said South African Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the 116th Executive Council of the UNWTO, the minister revealed that several countries isolated South Africa from the tourism map just because it informed the presence of the transmissible strain to the World Health Organization.
“Omicron has nothing to do with South Africa. It’s just that we discovered it. The protocols of the WHO required that when you discover anything new, you have to report it. So, we reported it,” Sisulu told Arab News.
South Africa is cheaper than most places. It has significant historical areas. I can’t think of a better place to go to than ours.
Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu
She added: “Several people had died in the UK, Australia and other places before it was discovered. Because we had put together an excellent team of scientists, we were able to identify it and indicate it to the world. But it came at a very high cost to us. We had to negotiate with the countries that cut us off and indicate that this is discriminatory.”
Sisulu, however, added that tourism in South Africa has slowly started recovering as people have again started visiting the country. The minister further noted that the Tourism Ministry is carrying out a TV campaign to attract more tourists to the nation.
She said: “South Africa is cheaper than most places. It has significant historical areas. I can’t think of a better place to go to than ours.”
The minister revealed that the country’s Tourism Ministry is planning to raise the number of investment conferences in the nation.
Sisulu also clarified that the country is an excellent place to invest, where the returns are outstanding.
“South Africa has a very good investment environment. It is user-friendly, and it doesn’t have all the restrictions most countries have. The returns are very good. So we are hoping to double the investment conferences that we have for people to come and invest in South Africa,” noted the minister.
