Visa requirements hurt tourism
A GLOBAL research and consultancy firm, Oxfam Business Group, has warned that South Africa’s stringent visa requirements for visitors will harm the booming tourism industry in the short to medium term.
The report, which was published yesterday, claimed that while South Africa had made strides in claiming the top spot as the most attractive tourist destination in sub-Saharan Africa, the requirements had resulted in tourists from major destinations such as China and India declining by up to 50 percent in the last quarter of 2014.
The report warns that unless the government reviewed the directive, the visa requirements and last month’s spate of xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals could stifle growth and job creation in the tourism industry.
“Arrivals from both India and China saw a sharp downturn in the fourth quarter of 2014, dropping 15 percent and 50 percent, respectively, a trend that is expected to accelerate with the introduction of the requirement that all applications for visas for children be accompanied by an unabridged birth certificate,” stated the report.
“While aimed at halting the trafficking of children, it is making it more complex for travelling families to meet visa requirements.”
Oxfam’s dire warning comes in the wake of a World Economic Forum global travel and tourism competitiveness index earlier this month, which saw South Africa leapfrogging key destinations such as Seychelles and Mauritius as the number one tourist-ready economy in sub-Saharan Africa.
The index attributed South Africa’s wealth in cultural and natural resources, as well as solid tourist infrastructure and price competitiveness, in putting the country ahead of other destinations such as Kenya, Tanzania and Cape Verde.
It ranked South Africa 48 out of the 141 countries surveyed, but warned that the country was being held back by wider policy constraints and weaknesses such as a rigid labour market and visa regime.
The report said the Department of Home Affairs’ decision to tighten up the visa application process had seen a plunge in arrivals from key tourism markets, particularly India and China.
With just two offices operating in the whole of China and limited access points to submit applications in India, it had become a disincentive to travel to South Africa.
Tsogo Sun chief executive Marcel von Aulock said the new visa regime could see the sector losing out on the growing Asian market.
The Oxfam report pointed to the country’s successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup and the tourism industry’s business environment as powerful enablers for the sector. It said on average, South Africa hosts more than 100 conferences each year in its leading conventional centres of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
The report warned that despite these, the complex and expensive visa regime could halt growth.
The Department of Home Affairs was not immediately available for comment.