Tour operators unpack challenges
MBABANE – Local tour operators had the opportunity to unpack some of the challenges they encounter in their sector, to South Africa High Commissioner to Eswatini Thokozile Sipamla.
The South Africa High Commission (SAHC) organised a tourism breakfast meeting, where Sipamla invited tour operators to discuss issues around tourism between Eswatini and the neighbouring country.
Mandla Masuku, from Ekhaya Cultural Tours, shared that one of the challenges was the one entry visa, which made it impossible for tourists visiting South Africa to come to Eswatini.
He mentioned that this usually occurred with tourists from France but it was not unique to them. He revealed that the challenge was that the single entry visa did not allow a tourist to travel to another country except the one that the person had applied to visit. He said most of the tourists did not know about the single visa requirements, hence they got blocked at the border while trying to cross to Eswatini.
Revitalisation
Masuku advocated for the revitalisation of the dream of opening the borders and having a free movement of people across the two countries, without the restriction on visa policies. “I would like to urge our two governments to have a discussion on how they can eliminate the visa challenge,” he said. Masuku highlighted that Eswatini was losing a lot from these potential investors, because every time they came to the country, they left something in terms of revenue and if they would bypass the country, it meant a loss in business.
Cindy Tomu from King’s Travel Africa said another challenge was that South African police were only recognising 22 seaters as shuttles, not anything less than that. She said sometimes tourists going to South Africa would require an eight seater due to their number, but they would be stopped by SA police and the charge carried a fine of E2 500.
She even made an example that some tourists were executives and they preferred being chauffeured by such cars as Mercedes, not travelling on shuttles.
She also made a plea to the high commissioner that this should be looked into because it posed a challenge on their operations as tour operators.
Miliswa Mamba, from SiyeSwatini Transmagnific, said she appreciated the extended hours at some borders but the challenge was that human resource was not aligning, and their clients were subjected to long queues.
Sipamla assured the tour operators that these issues would be looked into, so that the two countries could benefit greatly through the tourism sector.
Prior to that, Sipamla highlighted that it was important to remember that within the field of tourism, South Africa and Eswatini were interconnected.
“In this regard, Eswatini is keen to attract South African tourists to this beautiful country. At the same time, South Africa is eager o encourage tourists from Eswatini to visit SouthAfrica.Additionally, foreign visitors from Africa and outside the continent remain interested in visiting Eswatini via South Africa and vice versa,” she said.
She also highlighted that tourism played a vital role in the promotion of employment and revenue in South Africa and Eswatini. She mentioned that in South Africa’s case, tourism in 2020 contributed 8.7 per cent to the GDP. In direct financial terms, this constituted to an amount of E130.1 billion a year.
“Furthermore, tourism to South Africa contributed 4.5 per cent of total employment, which in real terms provided 739 657 jobs to South Africans,” she stated.
The opening of Ngwenya/Oshoek Border Gate for 24 hours as from December 2021 allowed for a significant increase in the flow of tourists, both to Eswatini and South Africa, as revealed by Sipamla.
She said statistics reflected an amount of 682 217 South African tourists visiting Eswatini during the January to December period, compared to 428 765 during the same period in 2022, an increase of 253 452 or 37 per cent.
“From the Eswatini perspective, 1 095 084 potential tourists exited Eswatini to South Africa, an increase of 34.4 per cent over the 2022 figure of 682 217 during the same period, the majority destined for South Africa,” she said.
Excited
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Khangeziwe Mabuza said they were quite excited about the continued relationship the country had with South Africa, as far as the tourism sector was concerned.
She highlighted that the movement of people between the two States required having the appropriate infrastructure in terms of the country’s roads, which she said had greatly improved, with a room for improvement. She highlighted the presence of high traffic of heavy vehicles, which were very heavy on the country’s roads.
“Maybe it’s time we look into the alternate of rail lines as means of easing the traffic at the border, which would divert the heavy vehicles’traffic from the roads,” she said.
Mabuza also touched on the influx of foreigners coming into the country, which then borders on the issue of human trafficking, mainly using the informal crossings.