Tourist arrivals to South Africa have dropped and industry experts warn if the trend continues job losses could follow. And the blame is being laid squarely on changed visa rules.Stats SA released figures yesterday comparing the number of foreigners entering the country in May and June this year with those in June last year.They showed a 9% drop in the number of international visitors year on year.The number of Chinese tourists decreased most - 28% year on year, from 5823 in June last year to 4167 this June, when the new visa regulations came into effect. To meet their requirements, many Chinese who want to come to South Africa must travel hundreds of kilometres within their country to apply for a visa at one of only two South African high commissions.The regulations require tourists from all countries to apply in person for visas at embassies.Children must travel with unabridged birth certificates.The tourism industry has warned of a drop in the number of visitors, with Grant Thornton consultants estimating the stringent new requirements could cost the country more than R40-billion.There were 610092 tourists (people who stay in the country more than a day) in June, down from 672726 in June last year, a staggering 11%.Most arrivals, 482 523, were from countries in the Southern African Development Community region.In June, 113 689 tourists came from overseas, the largest number (about 26 503) from the US.According to Stats SA, tourist arrivals from the US, UK, Australia, Germany, India, Italy and Canada dropped year on year. The number of tourists from France remained constant.Tourism experts are concerned.Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism CEO, said the data confirmed the adverse effects of the visa requirements.The CEO of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, said: "If this trend of decreasing numbers continues, it could lead to retrenchments."Hotels are businesses. If there are fewer and fewer people staying, they will make no profit, and will ask: 'Do we need as many people working in the industry?'"He said hotels employed the highest number of people in the tourism industry and needed to remain profitable in order to create jobs.Members of his federation had reported lower hotel occupancy rates this year, although they could not say if this was the result of fewer international travellers."There could be less domestic travel or corporate travel."Duminy said Grant Thornton estimated that 21100 jobs could be lost nationally as a result of the new birth certificate requirements and another 80100 as a result of the biometric visa requirements."South Africa has to make it easy for tourists to choose the country," Tshivhengwa said. "A lot of countries are competing for tourists ... and are doing whatever it takes to make it easy for people to visit. "On Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba defended the controversial regulations on Twitter, saying a decrease in tourist figures was not a surprise."We expected numbers to drop as tourists comply and familiarise themselves with regulations."He blamed the tourism industry, saying it was not selling the country as well as it should. "We should not be selling the country on easy access for children [sic]."Local Chinese businessman Anderson Lee said South Africa was attractive because of the slumping rand. He said the new visa regulations were not a big problem and were not deterring Chinese travel. Crime was more of a concern.A bus of Chinese tourists was robbed on the highway just after leaving OR Tambo International Airport three months ago."I knew of two families who wanted to return to South Africa because they like the place. They cancelled their plans after that robbery."Last week, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said the task team that investigated the impact of the visa regulations was waiting to discuss its findings with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa...