Wine Tourism in the Western Cape & COVID-19 Business Continuity, Mitigation & Recovery Input 29 April 2020 Index Page 1. Introduction 3 2. Economic Contribution & Value Chain 4 3. COVID-19 & Tourism: Global and local outlook 4 4. Wine Tourism Business Continuity Planning & 5 Mitigation Measures: 5. COVID-19 Schedule of Services: Proposed Sector 12 Framework 6. First Steps Towards Recovery 14 7. Signatories 16 2 1. Introduction: Traditionally, wine farms are involved in the production (primary and secondary activities) and harvesting of wine grapes and the making of wine. The addition of commercial developments (for example restaurants, retail shops and accommodation) and the commodification of farm resources or features (for example historical buildings, hiking trails and venue hire) resulted in wine farms not only changing their production orientation by adopting these tertiary and quaternary retailing and service activities, but also expanding their wine farm to become places of visitation and consumption. Wine tourism is therefore defined as travel to wineries, wine regions or wine festivals and events for the purpose of enjoying food and drink, hospitality, activities, scenery, culture and local South African lifestyles. South Africa boasts a well-established network of twenty-three diverse and well-run wine routes across three provinces; the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The vast majority (20) and most developed of these routes are located in the Western Cape. Wine routes in South Africa is organised in line with terroir based Wine of Origin (WOO) designation. The South African Wine Routes Forum (SAWRF) is made up of representatives of the wine routes. The group meets bi-monthly to exchange ideas, share learnings and plan joint research and marketing initiatives. Representatives from Vinpro, Wosa and Wesgro are also co-opted. There are 566 wine cellars, consisting of private wine cellars and producer cellars, operating in South Africa of which approximately 450 are members of an official wine route. 451 wine route members 23 wine routes 566 wine cellars (private wine cellars & producer cellars) 3 232 primary grape growers Graph 1. Wineries in South Africa 3 2. Economic Contribution & Value Chain: Wine tourism is a significant revenue generator for the South African economy and contributed in excess of R6 billion to the country’s GDP. The sector provides many business and employment opportunities. Preliminary results from our 2020 survey to quantify the sector’s contribution suggests that wine tourism employs upwards of 8,000 people on a permanent basis and more than 3,000 people on a casual basis. Wine tourism comprises of an array of sectors, all forming a value chain. For the purposes of our strategy, and this document, we focus mainly on tourism services that take place at farm gate. Tours & Events & Tasting Room Restaurants Accommodation Experiences Festivals Graph 2. Wine tourism services at farm gate 3. COVID-19 & Tourism: Global and local outlook: The outlook for tourism is a sobering one at present. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimates that international tourist arrivals could decline between 20% and 30% in 2020. This would translate into a loss of 300 to 450 US$ billion in international tourism receipts (exports) for the year. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that these losses could result in a loss of 50 million jobs in travel globally. At a provincial level, a 64% loss in tourism’s Gross Value Added (GVA) to the Western Cape economy is anticipated along with an estimated loss of 45% of tourism jobs by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT). They have identified tourism and entertainment as one of the three worst affected sectors of the economy. Wine tourism in particular is a strong driver of rural development as acknowledged by the UNWTO and the OIV when they entered into a recent agreement to mobilise wine tourism as a rural development tool. 4 4. Wine Tourism Business Continuity Planning & Mitigation Measures: Our objectives with the business continuity planning and mitigation summary are to: Report on the readiness of our winery members to resume operations during a phased exit from the COVID-19 lockdown. Demonstrate their commitment to putting the health and safety of their team members, customers and supply-chain first when resuming business. Safeguard the economic survival of our wineries to sustain the tourism value chain in order to support future demand, whether domestic or international, when it recovers. This extends to safeguarding as many tourism jobs in our wineries as possible, despite stifling odds at the moment. We used an online survey to provide comprehensive feedback on the possible impact on staffing, health and safety conditions and the value-chain by wineries operating their tasting rooms and restaurants (on-site only) in the early phases of a staggered exit from lockdown. The survey was completed by 104 wineries in three days. Simultaneously, we encouraged all of our wineries to conduct a risk analysis and prepare a practical business continuity plan for the weeks to come. Security will need to receive attention in the risk assessments if wineries are going to operate with a reduced number of staff e.g. offer a cashless service to reduce the risk. Please find the wineries surveyed’s feedback below. 4.1. Which hygiene and health & safety measures would you put into place with respect to each of these three groups in order for your tasting room or restaurant to be exempted from the lockdown? Team Members/Staff Customers Supply-chain Training of all staff, especially Compulsory temperature COVID-19 business front-of-house (FOH) team screening continuity and mitigation members, on COVID-19 plan to be received hygiene protocol before deliveries/services take place Compulsory temperature Sanitation stations at entrance Compulsory screening to and exit from tasting room temperature screening or restaurant of driver and assistant Social distancing measures Social distancing measures of Limited service to between staff. All staff to keep 2m between tables customers will reduce a safe 1.5m distance apart at number of buy-ins and all times deliveries Opportunity to frequently wash Limit the size and number of Deliveries to take place hands and hand sanitizer to groups in the venue at all to one area only e.g. dry be freely available times store or outside 5 Health & safety officer to Keep customer record of all Sanitation stations to be monitor compliance with SOPs visitors with contact details set up PPE such as masks and Sanitise all surfaces before Contactless delivery gloves to be made available to and after customer visit protocols all staff Stagger workstations on either Remove all spittoons from Digitally sign invoices side of processing tasting stations lines so that food workers are not facing one another Maintain frequent washing and Communal areas and surfaces Drivers to have sanitizing of all food like door handles, credit card sanitisers and PPE in contact surfaces and utensils machines, bathrooms, their vehicles entrance doors, welcome desk etc. are cleaned regularly Washing of crockery, cutlery, Staff to throw away stemware in dishwasher at packing material e.g. high temperature in line with boxes immediately and WHO recommendation gloves used Require food service workers Keeping doors open where to frequently clean possible to minimise and sanitise counters, serving contact utensils and condiment containers Urge all guests to follow the Notices in building to Control & Prevention protocols communicate health and (no handshakes/ hugging/ hygiene steps taken and best touching) practice behaviour Only FOH staff to have Investigate no-touch bins for contact with visitors restrooms All equipment to be sterilised Offer disposable menus or every single morning and display a chalk board to evening before opening or eliminate touching menus closing of the farm Limit the number of staff on Urge all guests to follow the duty and keep scheduled work Control & Prevention protocols rosters (no handshakes/hugging/touching) Supply transport to work to Gift pens used for signing avoid public transport credit card slips Work stations, offices, the Disposable tasting cups tasting room and all work areas must be sanitised regularly and cleaned Sick staff to self-isolate Self-guided wine tastings set immediately up for limited exposure to staff 6 4.2. If your tasting room or restaurant was re-opened, what other industries in your value- chain also need to be re-opened? Please list all applicable industries. Food and beverage suppliers Input suppliers i.e. bottling, labelling, cartons, capsules, corks Glass, cutlery and crockery suppliers Imports of chemical products, dry goods, wine bottles and barrels Cleaning and hygiene services Gas, plumbing and electricity services suppliers General kitchen equipment technicians Refuse and garden services Waste removal and recycling operators Courier service sector Transportation for staff and goods Warehousing for wine Consumables (office supplies, stationery) IT support Banking and cash-in-transit services Tourism support services Schools, crèches and after-school care for staff’s children 4.3. Is it possible for you to operate viably at a percentage of your total capacity? 83% of wineries indicated that it would be viable for them to operate at a percentage of their total capacity during a phased exit from lockdown. Is it possible for you to operate viably at a percentage of your total capacity? 100% 90% 83% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 17% 10% 0% Yes No Graph 3. Viability of operations at reduced capacity 7 Comments: Operations are scalable to the number of customers allowed in the tasting room. Wineries can rely on alternative channels like wine club, online and cellar door sales to bolster their income while limited tourism services are being offered. Operations can be managed by a limited number of staff with administrative support staff working from home.