South Africa's Tourism Industry Confronts Worsening Electricity Outage Crisis
Photo Credit: View of Table Mountain from the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Cape Town harbour from Cape Town Waterfront / Shaun Meintjes
Skift Take
South Africa's hospitality and tourism industries have had to source alternative energy proactively. There appears to be no end to the country's ongoing energy crisis that cuts travel business profit margins and puts its digital nomad destination appeal at risk.
South Africa's power crisis has gone from bad to worse, as ongoing blackouts since 2007 are now a daily occurrence, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
So how do you promote tourism with widespread blackouts?
The country's tourism sector, worth an estimated $27.4 billion pre-Covid, is pushing towards full recovery, but with the ongoing energy crisis doing it no favors.
Tourist arrival numbers might be 153 percent up compared to 2021, with 5.7 million visitors to the country in 2022. Yet, it remains 44 percent below pre-Covid levels of 10.23 million visitors in 2019.
Persistent power cuts in 2022, estimated to cost the economy at least $54 million ( R1-billion) a day, according to energy and mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe, has forced the country's hospitality and tourism industries to proactively source alternative energy and adapt to ensure that the guest experience remains uncompromised.
This has meant investing in costly diesel generators for one, which eats away at any potential profits. Conversely, large parts of the sector have seen the disruption as the right time implement sustainability goals in the face of Eskom's failing coal infrastructure.
As result, the more load they can take of the national energy grid and convert into renewable energy, the better.
The V&A Waterfront, South Africa's most visited attraction, which usually sees over 24 million visitors per year, and was at 80 percent of its usual footfall October 2022. As a precinct
