Roll-out of relief fund for tourist guides starts

The SA Department of Tourism has announced the roll-out of a relief fund specifically to assist tourist guides.

This follows an announcement earlier this month by Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane of a R30 million (€1.5m) fund that will provide monthly financial relief of R1 500 (€79) for eligible guides for a period of three months.

The relief will apply to registered freelance tourist guides who operate independently (without any formal employment), without formal businesses in place.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating effect on tourism, and many tourist guides have been left destitute without any form of income. The fund will financially assist guides over the next three months as the country slowly begins to ease disaster management regulations, and reopen some sectors of our economy,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.

The fund will be administered through a ‘no application process’. Information on guides will be sourced from the databases maintained by the Provincial Registrars of Tourist Guides in all nine provinces, and verified with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the necessary verifications and validated information where necessary.

Registered tourist guides, who have valid identification according to DHA and who are not registered with UIF and have not claimed any financial support through the Tourism Relief Fund, will receive financial relief from the Department.

The Minister said provincial registrars would ensure that all the relevant information on their respective databases was correct, particularly the contact details of all their tourist guides.

“We encourage all tourist guides to provide their updated contact information to their respective Provincial Registrars. This is crucial, as cardless payments will be made in order to expedite the payment process.”

For any queries related to this fund, please contact the departmental call centre at 086 0868 747 or email callcentre@tourism.gov.za

Tourist guides: for enquiries relating to the database of Tourist Guides at provincial level, contact the Provincial Registrars as follows: