Visa rules could add to SAA’s hardships

NEW visa rules, which have already caused a drop in tourist numbers to SA, could be a risk to South African Airways’s (SAA’s) turnaround plan, says an industry body.

They are also likely to undermine the government’s ambitions to grow the sector’s contribution to the economy.

The new visa regulations come into effect today, and the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) has blamed them for a decline in tourists from key markets such as China and India.

Air China last week cited the new rules and recent xenophobic violence for delaying the start of direct flights to SA.

This prompted Satsa CEO David Frost to ask on Friday: "How is SAA going to implement its turnaround strategy with a decline in tourist arrivals?

"We have to ask ourselves what the regulations are going to do to our national carrier. What they are going to do to tourism," Mr Frost said.

Parents and guardians travelling with children under 18 years have to provide unabridged birth certificates showing the names of both parents; minors travelling with one parent need an affidavit of consent from the absent parent; and applications for visas have to be made in person so that biometric information can be recorded.

The more stringent documentation is intended to curb child trafficking, the government has said.

Mr Frost said in China, where there were only two venues for biometrics to be taken, the domestic travel cost to apply for a visa would mean a Chinese traveller would pay double the cost of their holiday in SA.

From September to December last year, the number of tourists from China fell close to 50% and from India 15% year on year, according to Statistics SA data.

SAA is implementing its ninth turnaround plan in 15 years and is emphasising regional routes.

The tourism industry, represented by Satsa and the Association of Southern African Travel Agents (Asata), wants the new rules to be placed on hold and the Department of Home Affairs to consult with the industry. Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba had set up a task team to engage with the industry but the team had yet to meet, Mr Frost said.

Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni defended the new regulations, saying the department now had a backlog of only 800 unabridged certificates, which was down from 4,000.

The rules were benchmarked against the UK, Canada, Australia and Schengen countries, which require additional documentation when travelling with children.

"We do not understand the claims that our requirements are unique, not applicable elsewhere, and would have consequences for tourism and the economy in general," Mr Apleni said.

"Our regulations were benchmarked even with countries attracting more tourists."

Asata CEO Otto de Vries said home affairs had identified at least 190 unabridged birth certificates.

Mr de Vries said the new regulations affected airlines and travel agents across the globe, regardless of whether they fly directly to SA.

Verifying that all documents were complete would be the task airline staff at the very first flight to be taken by a family before connecting to SA. If a family flying from Canada to SA, via Frankfurt, reached Frankfurt without proper documentation, an SAA flight would not allow the children to fly into SA. Children who made it to OR Tambo International without proper documentation would be declared undesirables, he said.

-BDLive