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Cape Town - There is no empirical evidence of a decline in tourist arrivals to the country as a consequence of fear of the Ebola virus, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said.
In reply to Jan Esterhuizen, an Inkatha Freedom Party MP, who asked whether he had found that fear of the virus was responsible for tourists cancelling their trips to South Africa, the minister said: "We are receiving anecdotal reports from various players in our value chain that point to cancellations."
READ: Could Ebola hit SA?
Although verified Statistics South Africa data are not yet available for the relevant period, "we are constantly monitoring the situation and actively participating in the inter-ministerial committee on Ebola".
In the meantime, his department is actively communicating the message that the country was "far from the epicentre" - of the outbreak of the virus - "and that our country has not had a single case of Evola Virus Disease", said Hanekom.
Tourism sector on the up
"It may be of interest to note that, according to the latest quarterly Tourism Business Council of South Africa index [released in October 2014], the tourism sector remains buoyant and shows and improved performance," he noted.
The council noted that the chances of contracting Ebola was low "unless a person has direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person or animal".
The council's tourism business index has ticked "upwards" in the third quarter, Grant Thornton - which compiles the index - reported. It exceeded performance expectations with a score of 105.3.
"Considering that a score of 100 is regarded as the normal trading climate, this is an improvement to the second quarter index of 94.7 and the forecasted Q3 index of 98.9.
The index tracks actual business performance in the South African tourism industry and provides an indication of the current and likely future performance of the various businesses. It has accommodation and "other tourism businesses" indices.
Map:
Take a look at this interactive map, which puts the worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus into perspective in terms, travel restrictions, infection rates and deaths.
KEY: Purple = deaths; orange = cases reported.
Harry Phillips from Health24 gives us the latest stats and facts on the Ebola outbreak.
A new case in Mali has health officials trying desperately to contain the virus. Also, Australia issued a visa ban this week to anyone from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which has not gone down well with health experts and rights activists.
Watch:
- Fin24
In reply to Jan Esterhuizen, an Inkatha Freedom Party MP, who asked whether he had found that fear of the virus was responsible for tourists cancelling their trips to South Africa, the minister said: "We are receiving anecdotal reports from various players in our value chain that point to cancellations."
READ: Could Ebola hit SA?
Although verified Statistics South Africa data are not yet available for the relevant period, "we are constantly monitoring the situation and actively participating in the inter-ministerial committee on Ebola".
In the meantime, his department is actively communicating the message that the country was "far from the epicentre" - of the outbreak of the virus - "and that our country has not had a single case of Evola Virus Disease", said Hanekom.
Tourism sector on the up
"It may be of interest to note that, according to the latest quarterly Tourism Business Council of South Africa index [released in October 2014], the tourism sector remains buoyant and shows and improved performance," he noted.
The council noted that the chances of contracting Ebola was low "unless a person has direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person or animal".
The council's tourism business index has ticked "upwards" in the third quarter, Grant Thornton - which compiles the index - reported. It exceeded performance expectations with a score of 105.3.
"Considering that a score of 100 is regarded as the normal trading climate, this is an improvement to the second quarter index of 94.7 and the forecasted Q3 index of 98.9.
The index tracks actual business performance in the South African tourism industry and provides an indication of the current and likely future performance of the various businesses. It has accommodation and "other tourism businesses" indices.
Map:
Take a look at this interactive map, which puts the worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus into perspective in terms, travel restrictions, infection rates and deaths.
KEY: Purple = deaths; orange = cases reported.
Harry Phillips from Health24 gives us the latest stats and facts on the Ebola outbreak.
A new case in Mali has health officials trying desperately to contain the virus. Also, Australia issued a visa ban this week to anyone from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which has not gone down well with health experts and rights activists.
Watch:
- Fin24
