The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) has welcomed the launch of the Department of Tourism’s R600-million Tourism Incentive Programme (TIP).

Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom on Monday launched the TIP, saying it would assist tourism establishments become graded and find new markets for their products, as well as assist in the retrofitting of key tourist attractions with renewable-energy technologies.

“This will go a long way to encouraging growth in the domestic market and to the creation of jobs as intended by the inclusion of tourism in the Industrial Policy Action Plan and the National Development Plan,” Sacci said in a statement.

Further, the chamber emphasised that the tourism sector had the potential to contribute significantly to the upliftment of communities and create business opportunities in all parts of the country, thereby contributing significantly to economic growth.

However, Sacci was “gravely” concerned that the anticipated benefits might be thwarted by the recently introduced visa requirements, which were discouraging international visitors. Sacci was informed that some international travel agents had removed South Africa from their offerings.

The chamber called on the departments of Home Affairs and Tourism to jointly tackle the unintended consequences of the new regulations so as to ensure the continued growth in the number of international visitors to South Africa who travel for both leisure and business purposes.