‘We made it very difficult for Chinese people to visit South Africa’ – Hospitality Association

The national chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FHASA) Rosemary Anderson said South Africa’s visa regulations have made it hard for Chinese and Indian tourists to visit South Africa.

“We don’t have a welcoming Visa system for two of the largest markets. China are the biggest travellers worldwide now and then India is the second largest incoming market now,” Anderson told The Citizen.

 “We made it difficult for Chinese people to visit South Africa. You had to present yourself at an embassy or something like that which takes four or five-six months to get a visa,” she said.

Anderson spoke to The Citizen at the launch of the Summer Season Campaign in Bloemfontein in the Free State, which was officially kicked off by Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille who said that work is being done to ease the red tape around the visa regulations.

The launch was attended by the Premier of the Free State, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism in the Free State, Ketso Makume, various tourism industry stakeholders which included the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.

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Ease of regulations

De Lille said the gazetted Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), targeting increased tourist arrivals from China and India will encourage Chinese and Indian tourists to visit Mzansi.

“We’ve lost out to two very big sources markets, that’s India and China. And just yesterday, the trusted tour operators scheme was gazetted.

“Now this is a pilot project and we have to learn from it. I want to say to the tourism sector, if there’s anything in the gazette that you have concerns about, let’s discuss it because it is a first for our country.”

The Good Party leader said President Cyril Ramaphosa put together a ministerial committee in November of 2023, which comprised of the minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Tourism and the minister of State Security.

De Lille said the President gave the trio of ministries a task before he attended the recent Brics Summit in Russia.

“He said to us ‘Before I go there, you must give me your plan.’ And that’s exactly what we did, the three ministers we met, we also called on the help of the private sector. So the Tourism Business Council made some funding available for us to get a specialised agency in, that can help us to get over all of this red tape.”

The Minister said she’ll be going to India in the first week of December where they will “take this opportunity with the new Visa regime to get more Indian tourists and Chinese tourists to come to our shores.”

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Encouraging tourism

Anderson said countries like Scotland have programs that teach Scottish citizens the correct way to treat Chinese guests.

“Everyone is trying to go after these markets because they know how lucrative they are,” she said.

In her address at the Summer Season Campaign Anderson bemoaned the Visa regulations in the country.

But she said the TTOS is fast-tracking Chinese and Indian groups to come to South Africa.  

“It will make it easier for them to come to South Africa and it will be done by tour operators. They’re like professional tour operators. Home Affairs will only deal with trusted tour operators.”

Anderson added that neighbouring African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya have surpassed South Africa in attracting big number of visitors from the two Asian countries.

“They’ve been totally capitalizing on this. They put new visa systems in place which has left us behind as the minister said. They’ve left us in the dust, they’re getting more international tourists than we are.”

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to South Africa’s GDP was 8.2% in 2023. 

It is estimated to rise to 8.8% by the end of 2024 and reach 10.4% of GDP by 2030. Already in the first quarter of 2024, tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to South Africa’s GDP was 8.8%. 

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