The visa regulations that took effect last year have already led to a fall in tourist arrivals in South Africa, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said yesterday. Speaking ahead of his budget vote speech in the National Assembly, he said the tourist statistics for the last six months of last year showed a decline ."The countries [from which] there are declining numbers of tourists are all countries [the citizens of which] require a visa to visit South Africa."So it would be difficult not to conclude that the visa regulations are having an impact. We are worried about it."We cannot sweep it under the carpet," he said.Talks are under way within the government to deal the problem, he said.The contentious visa regulations require that would-be tourists lodge their visa applications in person at a South African mission in their home country.Especially in large countries, such as the US, this can be logistically difficult and expensive.Hanekom said his department had set ambitious targets for the years ahead, including attracting 12million foreign tourists by 2017-2018 and increasing domestic tourism from 2.8million in 2014 to 4.1million by 2020. ..