New immigration law depleting tourism
The new visa regulations have caused an uproar with local businesses and tourism agencies losing massive amounts of money and facing countless job losses which directly impact the growing unemployment rate in South Africa.
MBOMBELA – The Department of Home Affairs’ new immigration regulations are costing South Africa millions of rand and depleting important tourism sectors in the country.
The new visa regulations have caused an uproar with local businesses and tourism agencies losing massive amounts of money and facing countless job losses which directly impact the growing unemployment rate in South Africa.
Industry associations such as Southern African Tourism Services Association (Satsa) have spent the past couple of months lobbying for the new regulations’ postponement to allow for a more focused and timely implementation.
The regulations are part of the new Immigration Amendment Act which came into effect on May 26. A grace period was then given up until October 1.
Under the new regulations, people travelling to SA on a visa are required to apply for the visa in person. Parents travelling with children under 18 are also required to produce an unabridged birth certificate for each child before being able to enter the country.
According to Ms Lisa Sheard of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) the new regulations will not only affect the Lowveld region but the entire country as well.
“It all depends on the market of the tourism industries in the area. If businesses have a larger international profile then they will be more affected than those with a greater domestic profile,” she said.
One of the greatest qualms of these new laws is that it will not be economically viable as millions of rand will be wasted on expensive biometric equipment.
According to Mr David Frost, CEO of Satsa, the process is one that will be extremely difficult to manage logistically.
“We have already lost 90 per cent of the Chinese market with these new visa and immigration regulations,” he said. “The main problem is that countries will look to begin elsewhere anymore as they have to submit visas in person through expensive biometric testing. Jobs are being decimated as we speak and this is a grave concern for not only the tourism industry but the economy as a whole,” he stated.
Frost also mentioned that a probable solution could have been to do an impact study on the new regulations before implementation.
“If the Department of Home Affairs had worked together at an earlier stage with different tourism industry leaders the damage could have been minimised,” he added.
The department established a task team that would work with Satsa and other relevant organisations in order to look at best practice going forward.
“We appreciate the commitment of the department’s Mr Malusi Gicaba in bringing forth the best possible result for all stakeholders involved at this point in time. We will look into both birth certificate and in-person applications. The task team will also look at Satsa’s perspective in the process,” Frost concluded.
