Despite weaker rand, government’s visa regulations continue to repel tourists
16 September 2015
With the rand being at its lowest point in 14 years, South Africa’s tourism industry should be thriving as a tourist destination for foreign travellers – but, in spite of this, the government’s visa regulations continue to turn tourists away.
The Reserve Bank confirmed this week, in its quarterly bulletin for the second quarter that the new visa rules have struck a blow to tourism in the country.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa must immediately put an end to the cloak and dagger Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) set up to “consider the unintended consequences” of these job-killing visa regulations, and institute a substantive and wholescale review which seeks to assess both their suitability and effect.
This must happen, particularly in light of the recent pronouncement by the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, that the visa regulations are here to stay, and that the IMC review team is tasked with merely ensuring that the implementation of the new regulations is made easier for immigration authorities.
The DA, along with the tourism industry, has long held that these regulations are disastrous for the industry – which constitutes 9% of our GDP and employs 1.5 million South Africans – and must be abandoned. According to industry, 1 job is created for every 12 arrivals. In a country with a 36% unemployment rate, this potential to create jobs must not be jeopardised.
While the ANC government and the tourism-terminating twins, Minister Derek Hanekom and Minister Malusi Gigaba are in denial, recent statistics prove this point.
I will therefore today write to the Deputy President calling on him to suspend the regulations in order to prevent any further collateral damage from occurring, and institute a substantive and whole-scale review of these regulations, not the toothless IMC talk shop which has not made any announcements since its inception.
The review must assess the effect of the current regulations and engage with the alternatives that could achieve government’s goals without harming the tourism industry.
There are alternatives to the current regulations, which would not harm tourism. The DA has made several submissions, such as the introduction of electronic visas and biometrics on arrival, which have been ignored.
Various reports commissioned by Tourism Business Council of South Africa predict that in 2015, the number of lost foreign tourists due to changes in the immigration regulations is likely to increase to 100 000, with a loss of 9 300 jobs and the total net loss to the South African GDP of around R4.1 billion. The Marriott hotel group has also blamed the decline in tourism on these regulations.
Government must now face the fact that South Africa is facing a full-blown jobs crisis. We simply cannot afford to wait for committees to meet – and report back – while jobs are being lost.
The DA commends the Western Cape Provincial Government standing committee on Tourism for conducting extensive public hearings with industry to workshop these regulations, assess the implications and find solutions. It would be wise for national government to do the same. It makes sense to institute regulatory and economic impact assessments before implementing such far-reaching regulations.
With our economy on the brink of recession as GDP grows at a mere 1.3%, South Africa needs its tourism industry more than ever.
Statement issued by James Vos, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism, 16 September 2015
