President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday night announced accredited and licensed accommodation would be allowed to open with strict hygiene measures in place.

It was not yet clear when they would be able to open their doors.

Western Cape economic opportunities MEC David Maynier was pleased that more tourism businesses would be able to trade, but he added that clarity was needed.

“On whether these relaxed regulations include accommodation for leisure purposes and especially whether intra-provincial travel for leisure purposes will be permitted,” Maynier said.

Tsogo Sun’s John van Rooyen said local travellers were needed to boost business and avoid retrenchments.

“The occupancy is extremely low at the moment. Inter-provincial travel will also assist us tremendously to get more volumes of people,” Van Rooyen said.

Currently, inter-provincial travel was only allowed under certain circumstances, for example, funerals and business domestic air travel.

Eyewitness News