NFTGA Freelancers in Tourism Awareness Campaign

We set up two questionnaires during March 2020, in order to have concrete facts with which to make a case for the funding of freelance tourist guides and drivers by the Department of Tourism, NDT. This initiative laid the groundwork, and came in anticipation of the project.

The project was launched with a letter to the Minister of Tourism on 29 April, containing two specific questions:

  • When will the freelance sectors in tourism receive recognition from government for their contribution to the growth of tourism in South Africa, and for the valuable economic contribution they make to the coffers on an annual basis?
  • Will government make a commitment to assist freelancers with specially allocated and ring-fenced mitigation packages, aimed at sustaining jobs and ensuring capacity for the restoration of services, once business resumes, as has been the case in many other countries?

The letter to the Minister was followed up with an online video campaign  on Facebook and YouTube. Our first video to request funding for freelance guides and drivers went live on Facebook and YouTube on 1 May. The last one in the multilingual series went live on 9 May.

Watch the video in your language:

The outcomes

The videos, together with the letter to the Minister were part of the awareness creation campaign to highlight freelancers in tourism.  The Minister announced in June, that a Tourist Guide Relief Fund worth R30 Million had been set up for tourist guides.  This would basically pay each guide a once-off total amount of R4500 ZAR (about $225 USD per guide), over three monthly payments of R1500 ZAR each, for the duration of the pandemic.

Sadly, no provision was made for drivers in the government funds.

What comes next?

In the awareness campaign videos, we referred to further aid.  It is now almost two months later and desperately needed. Hang in there!  The NFTGA Tourist Guide and Driver Aid Programme (a Food Aid Scheme) will be announced as our following project.

The good news is that we are in discussions with Joint Aid Management South Africa (JAMSA), an organisation that already has everything in place, and we may be able to piggy-back our efforts onto their well-established and existing network to give us a much greater reach, profile and efficiency in delivering the much needed support!

Don’t forget, this is about putting food on the tables of our of driver and guide families who need to make ends meet, while there is no end in sight to the hibernation of tourism.

#NFTGA #NFTGAsos #NFTGAdonate #NFTGAguidesassist #NFTGAdriverassist  #TourvestDM #TourGuide #AidProgramme

Stay safe!