An estimated 100 000 foreign tourists will not visit South Africa this year as a consequence of the new stringent immigration regulations.

This is according to an impact assessment study conducted by Grant Thornton for the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.

“Essentially‚ what the report does is to confirm the fears we have expressed about the unintended consequences of the new regulations”‚ the Council’s CEO Mmatšatši Ramawela‚ said in a statement. “Our first impact assessment report already gave us a glimpse of what to expect and sadly‚ we have not managed to successfully mitigate against some of the risks which were highlighted by the first report.”

The changes to the immigration regulations of specific concern include:
- the requirement for tourists coming from countries whose citizens are required to have a visa‚ to now appear in person during the visa application process.
- the requirement for all minors travelling to and from South Africa to be in possession of an unabridged birth certificate in addition to their passport.

Key findings from the report show that:
• In 2014‚ South Africa’s tourism industry’s lost direct spend of up to R886-million due to the changed immigrations regulations. The study estimates that in 2015‚ the number of ‘lost’ foreign tourists is likely to increase to 100 000‚ with an estimated direct tourism spend of R1.4-billion;
• South African tourism markets that are directly impacted by the changed visa regulations have been negatively impacted. Significant downward trends were noted for Asian‚ Central and South American countries. China and India in particular have seen significant decline in demand;
• Thailand‚ Peru and the Philippines are some of the few countries which require or recommend children travelling alone‚ with one parent or with a third party to have a copy of the child’s birth certificate in addition to a letter of consent from the absent parent/s. However in the case of Peru and the Philippines‚ these requirements apply to citizens and residents of the country and not to tourists. In Thailand these regulations do not apply to children travelling with both parents.

“It would be more cost effective to implement the collection of biometric data on arrival at South African borders than to implement the same system in country at all consulates and processing centres‚” the tourism council noted.

Ramawela said the industry was not against Government’s plans to address the issue of child trafficking or to enhance national security‚ but believed that these objectives could be achieved without compromising the country’s tourism and overall economic growth potential.

“What we are saying is‚ allow us an opportunity to engage and present alternative solutions which will not have such a drastic impact on our industry.”