A young woman who travelled alone to a hotel in Zanzibar last year, to celebrate her 23rd birthday, has posted a string of tweets today alleging that the hotel, and the police on the Tanzanian island, covered up a traumatic attack she suffered in her room in the dead of night. Zainab Oladehinde claims that […]

South Africa’s hospitality association has welcomed last night’s lifting of the State of Disaster – after 750 days – BUT has re-issued its call for the urgent removal of the PCR test requirement for unvaccinated children between the age of five and 12-years-old… which FEDHASA says is damaging tourism. Fedhasa said it’s “delighted” by the […]

Cape Town’s popularity continues to attract an increasing number of tourists to South Africa with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines today announcing it is increasing its flight schedule between Cape Town and Amsterdam. The airline said in a statement on Tuesday that the schedule increase is a result of a greater demand for flights between Amsterdam […]

Air Belgium has announced plans to operate seasonal flights to South Africa starting in September 2022, with up to three flights each week flying simultaneously to Cape Town and Johannesburg. The Johannesburg and Cape Town routes are currently the airline’s only continental Africa flights. Brussels has historically been CPT’s second largest unserved market and the […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the easing of several restrictions, including Travel, as part of Adjusted Alert Level 1, which will take effect tomorrow (Wed 23 March) once they’re gazetted. Travel industry organisations welcomed the announcement, saying tonight that the PCR test removal for inbound vaccinated travellers will be a major boost for South Africa’s […]

The Telegraph newspaper in the UK has declared Cape Town, South Africa, “the greatest city in the world to visit right now”. Of course Capetonians already knew that, but it always feels so good when the rest of the world acknowledges it… and the compliments for Cape Town are bursting in this particular Telegraph article, […]

The French government has further eased travel restrictions previously placed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, making it easier for tourists from South Africa to travel to France. Air France confirms that, effective immediately, South Africa has been moved to the ‘Green’ country list for France. The new regulations feature some significant changes – […]

Finally, a foreigner appears to have almost nailed the South African accent. Well, at least better than most who’ve come before him. The brilliant Australian actor, comedian (and father to three boys) Jimmy Rees has posted a hilarious video in which he masters several accents (random Aussie, posh Melbourne accent, whining New Zealander and competitive […]

Dear Minister of Transport, Mr Mbalula; SANRAL, Mr Macozoma; MEC for Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs, Mr Harcharan; and all interested parties… writes tourism business owner in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Megan in this open letter. I love South Africa and have recently had the privilege of travelling through the country a little. It’s a huge […]

If all goes according to plan and Delta Airlines’ latest application is approved, then tourists and South Africans living in the US could soon be enjoying direct flights between Atlanta and Cape Town. Delta Airlines will operate a year-round route with a schedule of 3 flights per week from Atlanta to Cape Town, starting mid-November […]

To preserve and honour the legacy of South Africa’s iconic leader, Nelson Mandela, his home in Houghton, which was a symbol of his presidency and struggle against apartheid, has been transformed into a luxury hotel which was opened in September last year. “Sanctuary Mandela” as it’s now called was the Madiba’s first home in Johannesburg […]

South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park has always been particularly popular with holidaymakers from Germany… and soon those tourists will be able to fly directly from Frankfurt to Mbombela (Nelspruit), Kruger National Park, directly! Eurowings Discover is the first intercontinental airline ever to start scheduled operations to SA’s largest national park. Eurowings Discover is the […]

South Africa’s luxurious Blue Train is being suspended, effective from today 14 February 2022, until further notice, according to a Transnet message shared on social media. “Due to safety considerations the business has taken the decision to suspend The Blue Train operations in order to conduct a full analysis following the recent unfortunate incidents that […]

United Airlines today announced its plan to start flying non-stop from New York / Newark to Cape Town International Airport (and back) all year long! “Nonstop to Cape Town, now year-round!” tweeted the airline. The service will begin on 5 June, ahead of schedule, and will include three nonstop flights per week between the US […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the South African eVisa system has been launched in 14 countries, including China, India, Kenya and Nigeria, as per the government’s commitment. For those in the US, Australia, Canada and the EU… it’s not yet in place, but the South African online visa is planned for these nationalities too. In his […]

DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will lift a travel ban on its vaccinated citizens to travel to South Africa, the state news agency WAM said on Friday. The ban is also being lifted for 11 other countries in Africa. These include: Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, […]

Italy is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The European destination offers unforgettable sights for tourists to experience and is a popular destination for South Africans. From the mountainous north to the Mediterranean south, Italian travel offers experiences that will last a lifetime. Sailing around the magnificent waters of Italy in a yacht […]

The Dutch government has eased restrictions previously placed on Southern African countries (due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant) making it easier for tourists from South Africa to travel to The Netherlands. It is now possible for fully vaccinated travellers from South Africa to enter The Netherlands with no quarantine restrictions. The new entry regulations are […]

South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it will be resuming flights to Mauritius after the island nation lifted its travel ban on the country in January. The nation banned travel from Southern African countries in November last year following the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. SAA interim CEO, Thomas Kgokolo, said the airline […]

As Tom Cruise prepares to begin filming Mission Impossible 8 in South Africa, SAPeople spoke to 22-year-old British-Libyan actor, Adam Ali, about his experience filming in the country. Adam, who recently won the Best Actor award at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) for his performance in ‘Europa’, spent the month of October […]

The voice of South Africa’s hospitality industry – FEDHASA – has issued a call to the SA government to remove the compulsory PCR test required for inbound international and returning South African travellers who are fully vaccinated. Whilst welcoming last night’s announcement on the reduction in Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa (including isolation no longer […]

Tourism Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has welcomed the lifting of travel bans to Southern Africa by the European Union (EU), but said the damage has already been done and it comes after peak tourism season. On Monday, EU states agreed to lift the travel bans, which were imposed following the onset of the COIVD-19 Omicron variant. […]

Cape Town is one of the most popular cities in Africa to visit by night, if Instagram posts are anything to go by. According to a new research study, Cape Town is the fifth most popular city by night in Africa, with over 2,400 Instagram hashtags. The study of over 250 of the most populated […]

Germany is the latest country to drop travel restrictions on South Africa and its neighbouring countries. From today (Tues 4 Jan), SA is no longer considered a “virus variant area” by Germany, which means fully vaccinated or recovered passengers can now enter Germany from SA without needing to complete a compulsory two-week quarantine. These restrictions […]

ASATA has called on the Mauritian Government to lift its travel ban against South Africans with immediate effect so that the travel industries in both countries can collectively try to salvage the balance of the summer season. Mauritius recently extended its travel ban against Southern African countries until 31 January 2022, despite the presence of […]