The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has eased travel restrictions on South Africa, with the country also relaxing entry protocols for travellers.<\/p>\n
The change means that passengers will be allowed to travel to their final destination through Dubai from South Africa – subject to specific requirements.<\/p>\n
All passengers must still complete all the requirements of their final destination and present a negative Covid\u201119 PCR test certificate for a test taken 72 hours or fewer before departure or as required by their final destination.<\/p>\n
Only Covid\u201119 PCR test reports from certified labs that issue a QR code linked to the original report will be accepted.<\/p>\n
The UAE is the latest major travel market to ease restrictions on South Africa, with several major European countries also beginning to reopen travel.<\/p>\n
On 1 August, the German government said that South Africa is no longer listed as an area of concern but \u201conly\u201d a high-risk area. The general travel ban has also been lifted.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Spain has lifted its complete travel ban on South Africa from 3 August but still requires travellers to quarantine for 10 days even if they are fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Emirates airlines<\/strong><\/p>\n In response to the eased restrictions, the UAE’s airline carrier Emirates said that it is actively responding to the spike in travel demand across its network and plans to make it easier for customers to connect to Dubai and beyond through the scaling up its operations.<\/p>\n “For Emirates customers wishing to travel to the UK, the airline has optimised schedules to create the best connection options from its network, particularly across major cities in Africa like Johannesburg, Cape Town and Lusaka, and in West Asia including Karachi, Islamabad, among other cities,” it said.<\/p>\n Emirates said it has also increased flights to Johannesburg from daily to 11 weekly flights, with four linked flights with Durban, and the airline also flies to and from Cape Town with three weekly services.<\/p>\n “Customers flying in and out of Emirates\u2019 three South African gateways can safely connect to an array of onwards connections to Europe, Middle East, West Asia and the United States,” the airline said.<\/p>\n “Flights to\/ from South Africa have also been scheduled to allow for convenient connections and additional access to Emirates\u2019 four gateways in the UK, as well as Emirates\u2019 extensive US network.”<\/p>\n Emirates says it has recently introduced contactless technology and scaled up its digital verification capabilities to provide its customers with opportunities to use the\u00a0IATA Travel Pass<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n The airline said it has also introduced a\u00a0comprehensive set of safety measures to address the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n New rules expected to boost tourism<\/strong><\/p>\n At the start of August, president Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s cabinet approved new norms and standards for the safe operations of the tourism sector during the Covid-19 and other related pandemics.<\/p>\n The presidency said the norms and standards provide common minimum health and safety measures.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will ensure uniformity across the tourism sector,\u201d it said in a briefing on 5 August. \u201cThey will cover services such as accommodation, food, tour operators, casinos, weddings and other related activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The presidency said that introducing the regulations will place South Africa on par with international markets and enable the sector to be fully open for international tourist arrivals.<\/p>\n While South Africa has mostly kept its borders open to international tourists since easing its first hard lockdown in mid-2020, other countries have not reciprocated. South Africans still face strict travel restrictions.<\/p>\n This also impacts travellers who are dissuaded from visiting South Africa because of their difficulties returning to their own countries.<\/p>\n The full set of regulations have not yet been published.<\/p>\n