Shoddy tourism numbers won’t legitimise your Visa Regs, Minister Gigaba
15 January 2015
It is most concerning that the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, released ostensible tourism figures earlier this week which indicate increases in arrival numbers. However, these figures have not been comprehensively analysed to determine actual tourists visiting the country compared to people simply crossing land borders.
I will therefore write 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 even promulgated.
In Committee, I have repeatedly highlighted the 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.
Last month I wrote to the Deputy President as the Chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Visa Regulations, calling on him to urgently escalate the roll-out of electronic Visas as a means of streamlining tourist facilitation. The E-visa system is the solution to the current Visa regulation catastrophe, and would facilitate easier access for tourists to South Africa.
The experiences of many travellers into the country have been widely reported, and last month the Independent Newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that between 10 and 20 families per day were denied board on 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.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has long been advocating for the advancement of travel facilitation as a means of promoting tourism development, thus multiplying the industry’s socio-economic benefits as the number of tourists looking to obtain a visa before travelling continues to decline.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) yesterday released the latest Visa Openess Report, the share of tourists requiring to obtain a visa prior to travelling continues to decline and is at its lowest 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.
With the Rand being 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.
These economic impact assessments will prove these regulations are directly responsible for losses in income and job opportunities for the country; losses which we cannot afford.
Statement issued by James Vos MP, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism, 16 January 2016
