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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
TOURISM and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi has vowed to protest against South Africa’s anti-child trafficking regulations when the Sadc ministerial committee of tourism meets in Angola this month end.
With more than 70 percent of tourists visiting Zimbabwe coming from South Africa, the new legislation by the neighbouring country poses a huge threat to the viability of Zimbabwe’s tourism industry.
South Africa adopted a tight passport and documentation regime last month that compels visitors travelling with children under the age of 18 to produce an unabridged birth certificate provided the child is accompanied by both parents.
Under the new regulations, if a child is accompanied by one of the parents, the one that has stayed behind must furnish the one travelling with the minor with an affidavit that demonstrates that the child is theirs together.
In the event that one of the parents is deceased, the new passport and documentation law requires that the surviving parent travelling with the minor should carry a death certificate to prove that the accompanied minor was sired together with the deceased and surviving parent.
A disconsolate Mzembi told Parliament on Wednesday the government would protest at the regional meeting to seek a resolution to the matter.
“I can share with you now that we’re going to escalate our protest on this matter to the Sadc committee of tourism ministers at the end of this month so that we deliver a resolution not just by Zimbabwe but by Sadc on the unintended consequences of this anti-child trafficking law, which is now inhibiting travel,” said the minister.
“I want to assure you . . . when I come back from Angola, where I will chair the meeting as Sadc chairperson for the committee of ministers, I will bring back a resolution that we’ll arm Parliament with, so that you can also lobby your counterparts in addition to the work that we’ll be doing in the executive.”
Minister Mzembi said the new passport and documentation law had also affected South Africa’s tourism industry as it was discouraging free movement of people.
“South African tourism is a $13 billion industry. We generate $1 billion with tourism. It’s likely and it has already resulted in a 30 percent decline in the performance of the South African tourism economy,” he said.
“South African tourism is fighting in our corner. It’s fighting together with us to convince their government to review this battery of laws that have been placed on the travelling public, this new demand on travel documentation which obviously will be a burden to many people.”
The minister said during last month’s Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel expo in Harare, he briefed South Africa’s tourism minister about the negative impact of the new travel regulations on the travelling public in Zimbabwe and the region.
“South Africa is a source market for Zimbabwean tourism and in fact, 70 percent of visitors into Zimbabwe actually are derived or come from South Africa, whether by extension because they have visited South Africa or South Africans themselves. South Africa in itself is a 70 percent source market for Zimbabwe,” he added.
Despite this, Mzembi said there was no sovereignty of products in the tourism sector.
“In fact, what we encourage is regional packaging and integration. We derive more value in packaging products together. We’re too small a tourism product at this juncture to pose competition to South Africa. So we can only derive maximum benefit by packaging the Victoria Falls together with the Vilanculos in Mozambique and Table Mountain in South Africa but what is critical is to make sure that we’ve an accounting system, which attributes earnings that are akin to Zimbabwe,” he said.
A fortnight ago, the government commissioned a visit or exit survey, which is the beginning of a process to consummate a tourism satellite accounting package for the country and the region.
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