Visa rules will 'choke tourism'

10 November 2014 - 02:06 By Tanya Farber and Reitumetse Pitso
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SCARE TACTICS: As if we weren't doing enough to scare off tourists with red tape and crime, a gang of photobombers is dropping in on groups of tourists at Cape Point, one of the country's most popular travel destinations
SCARE TACTICS: As if we weren't doing enough to scare off tourists with red tape and crime, a gang of photobombers is dropping in on groups of tourists at Cape Point, one of the country's most popular travel destinations
Image: SHELLEY CHRISTIANS

South Africa's new border control regulations - to kick in on June 1 - could result in more than 100,000 job losses in the tourism industry and a revenue loss of R2.4-billion.

This is according to a leaked report prepared by auditors Grant Thornton for the Tourism Business Council of SA. But the council refuses to comment on the report.

The new regulations require that visa applications be made in person and that unabridged birth certificates be produced.

Kagiso Mosue, the council's corporate communications manager, said: "This was not meant to be a public report. We commissioned the study because it is necessary for us to engage with Home Affairs on the upcoming legislation. We are not happy that it was leaked but will issue a statement later."

Gillian Saunders, head of advisory services at Grant Thornton, said: "We were commissioned to do a report but it is the client's property and it is their decision whether to release it or not and they decided not to."

Though the prevention of child trafficking is cited by Home Affairs as the reason for the new birth certificate and visa legislation, the report says most children are trafficked within South Africa and not across its borders.

It cites a US State Department report, "Trafficking in Persons", researched last year.

The Grant Thornton report also says that if children under 18 leaving this country are required to have unabridged birth certificates it could result in losses to the South African airlines industry of R672-million.

According to a representative of the Forum of Immigration Practitioners of SA, more than 20 regional and international airlines have appealed to Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, claiming the new regulations could cost the country billions.

Interviews in the Grant Thornton report suggest that the number of tourists from China, for example, will drop by 70% as travellers would not want to fly to a city merely to apply for a visa.

Case studies presented at a provincial legislature committee meeting in Cape Town last week confirmed the industry projections and fears.

It was stated, for example, that Trafalgar Tours, in the UK, recently decided not to include South Africa as a destination in its marketing material for next year.

Leisure Hotel Group submitted a written report stating that a "comparison of total room revenue for the period June 2013 to December 2014 indicated an estimated decrease in revenue by R2.5-million" because of the new regulations.

Other industry players said ignorance about the Ebola virus had already started to affect the industry and that the visa regulations could wreak further damage on it.

Bettina van Denhurk, general manager of Private Safaris, said: "Several bookings from September to the end of the year have been cancelled and it has cost us a couple of million rands. Most of our cancellations are from the Indian market. The Germans and Russians are also cancelling their trips."

Nils Flaatten, CEO of Wesgro - the official trade, investment and marketing agency for Western Cape - said: "We do not have exact numbers of cancellations to Western Cape but we have received feedback from hotels and travel agencies of high volumes of cancellations by people in Asia.

"We need to work with international clients to protect the destination profile of our country by spreading the message about Ebola in relation to South Africa."

Despite anecdotal evidence that the industry is already in decline, another report - also prepared by Grant Thornton for the tourism business council but released to the public - indicates that the sector is performing well and in the last quarter received a performance score of 105.3. A score of 100 indicates a normal trading climate.

The council's CEO, Mmatsatsi Ramawela, said: "The results clearly demonstrate the immense economic potential of travel and tourism. The third quarter was a tough period for us as an industry, fraught with uncertainties in the wake of the Ebola outbreak [in West Africa], which continues to be a worrying issue for the global travel and tourism community."

Despite the postponement of the implementation of the new legislation relating to the presentation of unabridged birth certificates to June, tour operators and hotel groups still expect it to have an adverse effect on their business in the next quarter.

No representative of the Department of Home Affairs was available for comment yesterday.

But Gigaba was quoted as telling the Western Cape legislature's economic opportunities, tourism and agriculture standing committee that economic concerns had to be balanced against national security concerns.

He said he knew that some people would be "discomforted" by the new regulations.

"[But] we want to know who is coming to our country," he said.

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