adminTOURISM industry leaders are pinning their hopes for the scrapping of new visa rules from Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, as new data on Thursday showed the regulations would shrink tourist numbers by 578,000 or 6 percent a year.
Data from the Airlines Association of SA showed a 50 percent decrease in passengers younger than 18 years travelling to and from SA in June and July from a year ago.
The Tourism Industry blames the sharp drop on new visa regulations, including the requirement of an unabridged birth certificate for minors and in-person visa applications.
The tourism sector has been reeling following the introduction of the contentious regulations last year. The Reserve Bank warned last month that the visa regulations would hurt the economy.
International arrivals declined 11 percent year on year for the June to August period, according to the latest figures from Forward Keys, a travel data intelligence company that analyses millions of booking transactions daily.
The data shows a 6,8 percent decline for the period between September last year and May this year. SA’s tourism sector risks losing R7,5bn as a result.
More than seven associations under the banner of the Tourism Business Council of SA on Thursday pleaded with Mr Ramaphosa — the chairman of an inter-ministerial committee on the matter — to consider the new data and scrap the laws.
CEO of the Southern African Tourism Services Association, David Frost said the latest figures proved that the laws were harming tourism.
Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said 85 percent of SA’s core tourism markets did not have visa requirements imposed on them, despite some of them imposing such regulations on SA.
He said tourists would have to adjust to the laws as they would if they were seeking to enter any other country.
Tourism Business Council of SA chairman Mavuso Msimang said jobs were under threat in the industry and “overwhelming evidence” showed the new rules were devastating for the industry. — Business Day
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