With borders closed, South Africa pins hopes on cash-strapped local tourists

A shopkeeper awaits visitors at the Table Mountain cableway station, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Cape Town, South Africa, , August 22, 2020. Picture taken August 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Lisa Krohn's Ashanti Lodge in Cape Town - normally abuzz with backpackers from around the world - today sits largely empty, a sign of how the pandemic has crushed South Africa's tourist industry.

"This place is like a morgue," she said, contemplating the Victorian-era building's deserted foyer.