With the rand at historic lows against the pound and dollar, one would expect that the South African government would be promoting tourism to South Africa. Yet, last month the Independent Newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that between 10 and 20 families per day were denied boarding flights to South Africa during the pre-Christmas period because they fell short of meeting the new VISA requirements. This led to flat growth in tourism to South Africa from the UK.
At the same time the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), who has been advocating the advancement of travel facilitation as a means of promoting tourism development, says socio-economic benefits continues to decline because tourists battle to option visas. The UNWTO recently released the latest Visa Openness Report, saying the number of tourists who can travel without a visa continues to rise. In fact, it is at its highest level ever. In 2015, 39% of the world population could travel for tourism without obtaining a traditional visa prior to departure – as compared to only 23% in 2008.
This is not true for South Africa.
Meanwhile the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, released ostensible tourism figures. which indicate – somehow – increases in arrival numbers to South Africa. However, says opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, these figures have not been comprehensively analysed to determine actual tourists visiting the country compared to people simply crossing land borders.
The party says they have written to the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, requesting that an economic impact assessment be conducted for each province to reveal the full economic impact of these regulations on the tourism industry, which employs 1.5 million South Africans. This assessment should’ve been done months before these regulation were promulgated.
The DA says there is a grave need for a clear distinction between actual tourists, who spend several nights, and day visitors, who come into the country for business and other commitments. This distinction is necessary for the determination of tourism’s revenue value and overall impact on the economy, as well as for guiding policy approaches.
Minister Malusi Gigaba’s supposition that the rise in arrivals is a consequence of well-functioning Visa Regulations is nothing short of ludicrous; it is clear the Minister is clutching at straws.
The DA says with the Rand at its lowest point in 14 years, South Africa’s Tourism Industry is in a strategic position, contributing 9% to the country’s GDP, but is not due to onerous Visa regulations repelling tourist interests in the country. If the ANC government honoured its promise to relax the visa regulations, festive season in-bound travel could have been seamless and booming, and they would have been “spared the task of fabricating a fiscal happy ending”.
The time for easy obtainable e-visas is long overdue.