By Kaya 959 Reporter
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are expected to resume direct flights from South Africa to the United Kingdom.
According to the UK Embassy, entry is still restricted to UK and Irish nationals and those with residency rights.
“They will need to undertake 10 days quarantine in a government-approved hotel,” it said.
As @British_Airways & @VirginAtlantic prepare to resume direct flights to 🇬🇧 please be aware that entry is still restricted to UK/Irish nationals & those with residence rights & they will need to undertake 10 days quarantine in a government approved hotel. Full details in this 🧵 https://t.co/pNwXIprSE5
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧🇿🇦 (@ukinsouthafrica) November 28, 2021
This has come as a relief to those hoping to return home.
Last week, the UK placed SA on its travel red list following the discovery of Omicron, a new variant of the coronavirus.
Several other countries around the world, including the United States, Mauritius, France, Japan and Israel, also imposed travel restrictions.
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SA punished for transparency
Meanwhile, Southern Africa Tourism Services Association said travel bans have cost SA’s tourism and hospitality sector a lot of money.
It says the sector has lost over R1 billion in travel bookings for travel between December and March.
SATSA CEO David Frost said the impact of these ill-advised travel bans is catastrophic for an industry that has already been battling to survive for the past 20 months.
He said essentially, SA and its tourism sector are being punished for its advanced genomic sequencing and its transparency.
“We can only hope that science will prevail and that countries will reverse the travel bans shortly. The World Health Organization and scientists continue to highlight that travel bans are not an effective measure to deal with the spread of Covid. What has happened in effect is that the world has shot the messenger for doing its job well,” he said.
Rosemary Anderson, national chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) confirmed the immediate priority for the hospitality sector is now to protect domestic tourism over the festive season.



